The Queen in the Sword
by atheistbasementdragon
Summary: This is a branching story breaking off from 'God Rising' taking place after Remedios's escape. If you have not been reading my other series, then the events of this one will not make sense. Trust me, read the rest first. Remedios is a woman on the edge, of sanity, of the law, of life and death, of humanity itself, she is an immovable object, in the path of an unstoppable force.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is a branching story off of 'God Rising' if you have not read that story, (Reading 'Training in Time' would also help by the way) the events of this one, and the degree to which Remedios has changed, will not make any sense to you. But...if you have read that story, and this makes perfect sense to you...then I did a good job on the last one and I hope I continue to do so in this one.**

Remedios stood at the gate of the little village, pickings had been slim lately, somehow Black Justice had gotten people ahead of her and warned off much of her prey, but not everyone. No...not everyone.

A young man stood over the bodies of his parents, he was dressed in something akin to Black Justice attire, and he held the sword out in a most unprofessional manner, his family must have been recent converts that left him with little time for training. She saw him shake slightly in the firelight as much of the rest of the village was burning around him, she approached with cold eyes and moved with the smoothness of wind over leaves, drawing out her sword, she fairly dared him to come at her with a sneer forming on her face.

His charge was reckless, it was amateurish, he fought very bravely, and he died very quickly. She stepped out of the way of his desperate overhead slash, moved forward, then spun towards him, severing his head from his body from the back of the neck to the front.

"Fucking heteromorphs. Fucking monsters." She said and spat on the corpse.

To anyone who was listening, her words would have made no sense, these were human beings after all, mere village peasants of the sort she was desperate to save when Jaldabaoth's invasion had begun.

Now? This was her eighth massacre of peasants out of nine attempts...including the failure to put down Neia Barja and Black Justice in the capitol. Several other paladins and squires were busy killing off other villagers, and they made quick work of the untrained novices, when it was over, there were a handful of children left, in other villages there had been people who were willing to take the children of the dead, or the adults had died buying time for children to flee, but this village seemed to have nobody who was not a member of the undead worshipping evil cult.

Faced with this new situation, the paladins and squires herded the young ones into the center of the village, near where Remedios Custodio stood, and when they met her gaze, they started to cry and call for their parents, some knowing that it was to late for that already, having been dragged from clutching the corpses of mother or father.

"What do we do with these?" One of the squires asked her.

Remedios was quick to answer, she remembered the expression the man she'd met with the day of the failed attack on Neia's people has used about the children of Black Justice members. "As nits make lice and sheep make sheep and wolves make wolves, the child of a monster allowed to grow up, becomes a grown up monster."

She looked them over briefly and then said, "Put down the monsters before they grow up and destroy humanity."

Swords ran them through with merciful quickness, keeping their cries quick to come and quick to go.

"Now gather whatever supplies you can, and lets move!" Remedios snapped at her followers, "I want to be near the next town before sunrise tomorrow!"

They were quick to move after that, snatching up food, refilling water skins, and stealing small valuables that they could trade for supplies when they needed to. Some of the men and women wore troubled expressions on their faces over the deaths of the children, but troubled or not, orders were orders, and the gods demanded no less in the pursuit of piety than the totality of obedience in the act of bringing divine justice down upon heteromorphs, be they monsters in body or in spirit.

As they rode away as fast as their horses could carry them, Remedios gripped the reigns of her horse tight enough that her knuckles turned white, here eyes were narrow with rage, an entire village dedicated to the worship of the undead, it was horrible. Tears wet her eyes, "Calca..." she said softly under her breath, "It makes me almost glad you are gone, so that you do not live to see any of your people sell their souls to evil, that they should become heteromorphs by choice...its so wrong, so evil, I know it would break your heart to do this...but don't worry my beloved...only continue to look away in death, I will do this for you, I will cleans the Holy Kingdom, I will make our Kingdom great again, the stain of that undead monster will not linger one day longer than it takes for me to wash it away in the blood of his treasonous converts..."

It was an ugly thing to say, but it was now an ugly world in her eyes now, worse than during Jaldabaoth's invasion, and thinking about all that helped distract her as she and her group raced on until they reached the relative safety of a large forest outside a small to mid-sized town. They camped deep in the wood for almost a full day, the deep thick folliage allowed them to hide from the Sun, letting them feel like it was night so that they could rest for awhile, and when they woke, the Sun was near to setting.

One of her squires dressed in peasant clothing, set aside all military equipment, and gathered the small plunder from their raids into a pack and walked to the main road, once there she turned in the direction of the town and followed the course to the gate. No guards were present, which was something of a relief, and she walked to a booth that was open late, and she traded trinkets for coins, little was of much value, a few rings for ears or fingers, the odd small decoration, nothing of significance, so the trading was quick and merited no conversation. No sooner was she done than she went to her true destination, a tavern. The noise was as plentiful as the beer, and th quality of patron was...about the same as that, so...not great, not as far as the squire was concerned.

Still, she bought a mug of the swill to avoid standing out even a little and went to a private place to wait. It was not a long wait at least, and a man approached and sat down across from her at the same table.

"You're late." She said.

"No I'm not, I got here when I planned to. I don't care when you arrive, as long as you do." He said flatly.

"What can you tell me?" The squire asked.

"Not much, this town has very little Black Justice presence, we're only two days from the border to the South so, so that shouldn't surprise you, an inquisitor priest should be able to turn the population against any heretics with relative ease, no need to raid this place." He said softly.

"Are you sure?" She asked doubtfully, "There was a village full of heretics barely a day or so from here."

He waved his hand dismissively, "That was an anomaly, probably started expressly by worshipers and converts from the capitol looking to start new lives, this town has been here for years, and they're not sympathetic, honestly even if you'd done nothing, they probably would have rioted on their own eventually and attacked the place." He said with utter confidence.

"Blessed be the six." The squire intoned with eyes downcast.

"And their blessings upon us." The man intoned in turn, eyes similarly downcast.

"But listen," he said, "We've started to see inquistors go missing or turn up dead, Neia Baraja is responding, and I know Gustav is out hunting for Remedios. I don't know how sincerely, but hunting he is, and that is a problem."

"Will it stop you from providing is more weapons, supplies, and additional volunteers? We lost twelve people at the last fight, not great people, but every one down weakens us a little more."

"No, not yet, I can keep bringing people in from the South to reinforce you, and its easy to bring supplies through the wild country still, nothing but a few bands of surviving demihumans there, and most of those are not worth mentioning. Neia hasn't realized you're getting support from us yet, I'm certain of that, but listen, we're not alone, the Slane Theocracy has recently dispatched its scriptures, they're already moving around the Holy Kingdom." He whispered excitedly.

The squire's eyes lit up excitedly.

"However..." He said.

"What..." She asked, her excitement becoming caution.

"You have to move South, we need to get you close to or across the border, let things die down in the hunt for you for awhile, not long, a few weeks, we'll outfit you through friendly nobles and us one of the corrupt northern nobles to plant a few stories about where you've gone. You'll cross the border again soon, once you've resupplied, rearmed, and we've given you some time to train more of your recruits. If you really insist, we can smuggle people over like we have been doing, but it'll be a lot easier if we base you over the border." He said emphatically.

She frowned. "Remedios won't like that, she's hellbent on burning out the heresy immediately no matter what it takes. She will not like a lot of travel time between actions, and she won't like anything that looks like retreat, not with this kind of enemy."

"Convince her. Tell her there are people willing to smuggle her farther north where the worst heresy is, but she'll need to meet her contact in the South, that will have her attention." He said.

The squire nodded, "I'll do my best, that might appeal to her at least. What else do you have?"

"Nothing good, Neia has created her sacred text, approved by the undead monster himself, a copy is due to be presented to King Caspond soon at a ceremony a month from now, and from there it will go to the temples, and from the temples to all the lands controlled or influenced by the Sorcerer King or beyond." He said.

The color drained from her face. "No..." She whispered.

He nodded.

"No..." She said again.

"Yes. But also no, he'll never get that book." He said, "Just get Remedios to move South, let the Slane Theocracy handle Neia Baraja and King Caspond, and when you come north again, it will be with the means to set everything right." He said.

"I'll do what I can, but I can't promise she'll listen, she's unhinged, she was always a zealot, but...I don't know, since the failed attack in the capitol she's been different, I wish to the six that Gustav were around, he could talk some sense into her, the rest of us it is hit and miss." The squire shook her head and stood up, "Thank you for the information, we'll wait on a supply deliver in the woods overnight for now, and well...I guess the next contact you hear from will tell you which direction we went." She sighed in frustration, and downed the swill that passed for beer in that lowly establishment, and then walked out, leaving her southern contact behind.

When she returned to her camp, after carefully ensuring she was out of easy sight for anyone entering or leaving the town via the road, she gave Remedios the news she'd learned, and the blazing eyed Remedios was just about to scream in frustration, only for the brave squire to shush her. "Its not all bad, we did suspect scripture activity, so this is some good news, plus there are more inquisitors coming, and we've got people waiting to join us in the South."

"Not good enough." Remedios said, and waved her away, "Leave me alone, I have to think." She said with distress in her voice and on her face.

With a doubtful expression, the squire bowed and walked out, leaving Remedios alone.

The former Paladin commander, the symbol of justice in the Holy Kingdom, the most powerful Paladin in the kingdom and perhaps the world, the slayer of children and the destroyer of villages, cried, she covered her face with her hands to stiffle the noise, and cried bitter tears into her palms.

"You failed me again, didn't you?" A familiar voice said to her.

Her head snapped up. "Calca?!" she said, responding more to the sound of the voice than to the words. She looked around frantically until her face fell onto her sword, there reflected in the mirrorlike surface of her blade, was the face of Queen Calca.

"You disappoint me." The Queen said to her.

"I-I'm trying." She said softly.

"The undead is worshiped everywhere, I am remembered nowhere. What is that if not your failure?" The queen in the sword said harshly.

"Bad enough you let them kill me, you let me be used as a weapon, you let them tear down my people, all my work was undone, and now they praise a monster as a god." She said to Remedios.

"No...you're not forgotten everywhere, I'm hunting down the heretics, those spiritual heteromorphs who wear the skins of men and praise the undead, I am killing them all, I will purge this land of all evil, I will restore the gods place here, you will have your legacy back." Remedios said frantically and rushed to the upright blade, she knelt in front of it and grasped the cross shaped hand guard, she looked into the reflecting steel at the face of her queen, "I swear, I swear on my love for you and all your work that I will see this through to the end. Only please, forgive me for failing you before, for letting that damnable demon touch you while I was still alive...please...forgive me..." She pleaded frantically as the face of her queen faded, and an exhausted Remedios collapsed beside her blade in a dreamless sleep that went undisturbed for hours.

 **AN: Feed the beast, give me reviews, I hunger for reviews like PervySageChuck does for innuendo. (If you know who I'm talking about, you read reviews and probably leave them, so...thank you.) By the way, I know this is short, but its meant to just introduce the story, the bulk of writing takes place on the weekends. Think of this as a dealer giving you a free taste before unloading larger quantities of product.**

 **Addicted yet? ;)**


	2. Pointing the Sword, Aiming the Bow

"Not till you have avenged me." The face of Queen Calca said from the sword, and then vanished as if she had never been there in the first place. Remedios stared into the faceless voiceless sword, waiting for her to come back, waiting for her to speak again. Remedios however did not want her to go. She shook the sword back and forth, "Come back! Come back!" she whimpered.

But she did not come back, she did not speak. Remedios pulled at her own hair in frustration and rage, her sense of direction was pulling her left and right, front and back, she was uncertain of what to do next. She clenched her fists in frustration. "Damnit Gustav, where are you when I need you?" She said under her breath. Remedios was smart enough to know she wasn't that smart, she needed someone else to do her thinking for her, she was a sword to be wielded, an arrow to be launched, she was not a strategist, she was not a planner.

She did know enough to know she couldn't give the appearance of ineptitude, she couldn't lose the confidence of her subordinates. So she forced herself to keep it together, she washed her face in a basin of water, dried it off, then spread a map on the table and bent over it, placing her palms down flat, she gazed intently as if deep in thought. However her only thought was, "I'll be nobody else has to fake it like this." She let out a sigh, and then called out, "Yuri, I need you!" A young woman promptly entered, she was a squire, and bore an unpleasant similarity to Neia Baraja, except for the eyes. The eyes of Neia Baraja had rubbed Remedios wrong from the first moment they'd met. In them Remedios saw danger, threat, and despite her relative weakness with a sword, her skill as a tracker and an archer had been worth remarking upon, too, she had an independent spirit that spoke of indiscipline to the order conscious Paladin.

As the woman stood there waiting for Remedios to acknowledge her, Remedios herself was busy keeping up her act, tracing her finger randomly over roads and terrain as if she were thinking carefully about what they should do.

"OK, I'm ready for your report. What did our contact say." She said, and listened quietly as the woman spoke, relaying the information she'd learned in town with her Southern connections.

"South?" Remedios asked with surprise.

"This...heteromorphic infestation is here in the North, it has to be exterminated here, why should we go South?" She asked, her eyes narrowed angrily, but she allowed her subordinate to explain, and when she'd relayed her information, the woman chose to elaborate.

"Commander, are we fighting to die gloriously or are we fighting to win?" She asked bluntly.

"To win." Remedios replied firmly.

"Then we need to go South, we need to rearm, we need to reequip, we need to increase our numbers, would you rather face tens of thousands of heretics with a few dozen paladins and a few hundred squires, or with tens of thousands of each? Our patron is there, and with Gustav moving around looking for us here, best case we avoid him, worst case we end up fighting and even if we win, all that means is more dead Paladins."

It was a convincing case. "Alright...we'll go South." She said, tell everyone to get ready. Dismissed." She said firmly.

Inside her mind Yuri was sighing with relief, she'd managed to convince Remedios to make the right choice. As she walked out, she rolled her eyes, that map Remedios had been pouring over was obviously the wrong one for their location, it depicted areas in the far South of the Southern Holy Kingdom, and she'd actually had to be convinced to go there. A part of her wanted to laugh, if she'd been lucky enough to have at least had the right map out, Yuri might have been fooled into thinking that Remedios was an intelligent forward thinker. She shrugged mentally, lucky or not, forward thinking or not, she was the symbol they needed to push the fight against heretics, she was the one who would draw support and patronage from nobles. All she needed was someone to tell her what ideas she needed to have.

Yuri was under no illusions that Remedios liked her, though she wondered idly why her dislike seemed to be so thorough, but Yuri could do what others before her had done, think for her. Yuri knew Gustav had done that before her, and Calca had done so before him. Now it was Yuri's turn to aim the arrow that was the former Paladin Commander.

The whole thing made Yuri furious, she called the various squad leaders together and told them to pack for a journey South, an anouncement that was greeted with a mix of emotions from surprise to mild anger, but even those were calmed and set at ease when told they'd be recovering supplies and gaining fresh forces to carry the fight forward again. They went about their tasks with enthusiasm after that, and Yuri stroked her short blonde hair in exasperation.

"How could anyone in the North have fallen so far as to follow the undead? In the South...we would never do that." She said softly under her breath so as to not have her implied criticism of her northern counterparts be overheard, as one of the few southern squires to have come north, she had a unique position in the little group, and Remedios for some reason, had equal parts latched on to her and treated her harshly, but despite that harsh treatment, Remedios had also come to depend on her, as Yuri was good at adjusting her behavior to match that of the people around her so she didn't stand it, it made her useful for meeting contacts from the South and sympathizers in the North, and her skill with a bow was not unremarkable, too, she displayed keen tactical senses, if she hadn't been around for the massacres, Yuri was sure that Remedios would have just charged in without a plan and much of the population could have escaped, while Yuri instead has masterminded the assaults that had maximized dead heretics. It made Yuri as important to Remedios as any of her small number of Paladins.

The small number of people meant little time was needed to prepare to move, but waiting on the small resupply meant that nobody had to rush, and Yuri used that time to practice with her bow. She nocked an arrow and fired at a sapling, not at the trunk, but at a small branch shooting off of it, the branch was severed and began to fall to the ground, she drew two more arrows and fired them in quick succession at the falling branch, striking it once, but only embedding the other arrow into the soft soil without striking her target with the other. It was very good shooting, but it was not in her mind, good enough.

She pictured Neia Baraja's head in the position where the arrow stood upright, moved back twenty paces more, and then fired several more arrows at the one that had dared to miss it's target. Snap...snap...snap...snap...was all she heard as one by one the arrows she unleashed cut that arrow apart into fragments that fell to the ground. Neia's archery had become nearly legendary among survivors of the resistance, her bow, a gift from her dark master, let her obliterate numerous foes, and rumor said that she had personally killed the Grand King Busar and taken his armor as a trophy, stories said that she could make her arrows chase her targets, and that she was more widely feared by demihumans as 'The mad eyed archer' than Remedios was feared as a heroic paladin.

Yuri snorted at the stories, rumors could grow like weeds, and those who were defeated often exaggerated the power they lost to so that they would not seem as weak. At the core of the story, Yuri was sure that Neia must have been a competent enough archer, she must have been unusually skilled if even Remedios, who hated her, praised it, let alone if an undead monster saw fit to let her live to serve him rather than slaying her as the undead usually did with the living...but an arrow in the brain would end all that, no matter how good she really was.

A few hours later and some green clad figures stepped into the clearing bearing large heavy backpacks, there were around two dozen of them, and the backpacks looked heavy and tightly packed. Remedios and Yuri approached them as they set down their loads. "Supplies from the south, as promised." A burly dark bearded figure said. "Good." Remedios said, and after taking out a pouch, she handed it over to him, "The heretics show their thanks." She said, as she used the money from the dead, to pay for the equipment and resources that killed them, and would kill more.

As Yuri thought about it, it was every bit as grim a moment as the destruction of the villagers themselves. Still, it merited only a shrug, who cared what heretics thought?

 **AN: I know this is a relatively short chapter, but picking where to cut things off can be tricky sometimes and I don't want to push this one to far ahead of where it should be relative to the other ongoing arcs. Yes you'll see more of 'God Rising' today and you may see more of 'Memory & a Message', it depends on how far I get in 'God Rising' because the retrospectives could accidentally provide spoilers for details I don't want to give away yet.**

 **This overarching arc with all stories together is about 50 chapters long, and I'm not even 1/3 through, so just be patient and enjoy the ride. And as always, reviews welcome. :)**


	3. Through Different Eyes

Yuri did not like Remedios. She considered her to be stupid, arrogant, and not altogether sane. What Yuri did like was violence, and what Yuri was, was smarter than Remedios, so despite the antipathy there, Remedios tended to listen. Even not being the sharpest sword in the armory, Remedios knew that Yuri could do for her what Gustav had done her, and what Calca had done before Gustav, specifically, do her thinking for her.

Moving South proved surprisingly easy, the men bearing supplies had been more than happy to lead her South again, and when they arrived at the checkpoint, their papers sufficed to get everyone through without further inspection. This made Yuri somewhat suspicious about their backing, and when they made camp that evening, Yuri entered Remedios's tent.

"I find this all very curious." Yuri said to Remedios as the senior Paladin sat in her chair and stared blankly at a sword propped up against her pack.

Remedios didn't move, didn't acknowledge Yuri, she just stood there staring at the sword.

"I find this all very curious." Yuri said again, louder this time. She saw tears welling up in Remedios's eyes, and for a moment she thought she'd imagined it, but when Remedios recognized that she wasn't alone, the wiping motion on her face gave it away, something had upset her. Yuri filed that away for later contemplation.

"What was that, squire?" Remedios asked.

"All this. Look, we crossed the checkpoint without an inspection, the people bringing us supplies are dressed like peasants, but they move like fighting men, they walk through forests without armed escort, and they were on top of our watch before we even knew they were there. Do we know anything about who is backing us up?" Yuri asked forcefully.

Remedios shrugged, "I don't care. If they're helping me put down these heteromorphic heretics, they can be Jaldabaoth's children for all I care, if they get in the way later, if they betray our cause, then I can burn them for it later." She said fiercly.

Yuri was used to violence, she'd seen violence, she'd done violence, she loved violence as one loved a new lover, with each new act and each new victim being like a fresh tumble with an enthusiastic mate...but when Remedios looked at her, Yuri could swear she saw literal flames in her eyes. It was...exciting in a whole new way.

"Be that as it may," Yuri said, "its a bad idea to act without knowing who is moving us and for what purpose." Yuri said.

"So find out. Are you saying you haven't investigated anything enough? Are you taking responsibility for your failure to learn about your contacts?" Remedios asked sharply.

This was what Yuri really hated. Remedios was quick to blame and insist people take responsibility, even faster to take credit without attributing things to those who really came up with ideas, and slow to admit fault for anything. There was nothing to be done about that though, Yuri just grimaced and nodded. "True, but I'm bringing this to you now, I will see what I can find out, but for now I think we should double the watch, it may take longer to clear some trees out to use as a practice ground, but its better that it take longer than we be caught off guard."

"So do it then." Remedios said, and waved her hand dismissively. Yuri walked out, but as she did so, she glanced back, Remedios had gone back to staring at the sword.

When the flap closed, Remedios saw Calca's face in the steel again. "You were right you know."

"What about, my queen?" Remedios asked Calca.

"About burning, a cleansing fire wipes away sin, its not enough to stab someone through the heart, that may take their life, but it does not stop their unlife, they serve the undead, he will give them new life, an unlife." She said.

Remedios pushed off of the chair with such force that it flew backwards and broke when it hit the ground, she moved inches from the sword, kneeling in front of it, and grabbing the cross guard.

"No...NO!" She said softly.

"Yes." Calca said.

"To save them from the unlife, you must deprive them of bodies, they must be burned. Its the only way, and doing so, you will save the living as well." Calca said to her.

"How does that save the living?" Remedios asked, her eyes going wide as dinner plates, so lost in the conversation that she overlooked the shouting of welcome as new recruits were brought into the camp.

"They will fear you more than they fear the undead, they will fear the gods over monsters, they will fear heresy rather than embrace it. Not only will you suppress the heretics already gone over to the side of evil, but you will also encourage the true faithful to report them, avoid them, and reject them." Calca said.

"Yes. I see." Remedios said. As the image of Calca faded from the sword, Remedios looked up from her kneeling position, her eyes still wide and staring at the vision of the world she wanted to see, the world Queen Calca wanted, where humans could be happy. "Don't worry," she whispered, "I will burn them all."

 _...North of the border, moving South from the center of the Northern Holy Kingdom..._

Gustav's everything hurt. A thousand paladin and squires were a pain to take care of. That they bellyached as hard as they fought, was a testament to their ability to complain as much as it was about their ability in battle. Sometimes he even wanted to laugh, soldiers bitched about anything, even nothing, when boredom set in. Two demihuman bands had been exterminated, and they were coming to the first actual town he'd seen in a week. But when the scouts rode up to the front of the column at breakneck speed, he was sure something was wrong.

Their horses reared back on their hind legs as the men tried to stop them abruptly, and they stomped the ground anxiously. "Report!" Gustav snapped.

"Sir, its the undead!" The scout cried out.

"Is the town overrun?!" He shouted, "To arms!" And horses began to fan out from the column to the flanks.

"No sir! They're...FARMING!" The scout shouted, his mouth open wide and his eyes only slightly less so.

"What do you mean 'they're farming'?" Gustav asked incredulously.

Another scout spoke up, more calmly, but no less incredulous than Gustav himself, "Sir, there are numbers of skeletons in the fields using hoes and carrying baskets, there are humans there, a handful seem to be instructing and controlling the undead, but there is no violence, the skeletons are doing the work of the living."

Gustav could barely believe his ears, rumor had reached him since leaving the capitol that Black Justice had begun using skeleton labor in the capitol, but it wasn't really believable. "Defensive posture, scouts fan out, I'm going to meet the town, if I do not return, come after me." He shouted, and several senior paladins took to following his instructions.

"You two, come with me." He said to the two scouts, and he began to trot his horse down the road to the town, the others taking up positions on opposite sides of him.

Reaching the town didn't take very long, and when they came around a large wide hill, they saw down below where the town lay. At first glance, it was picturesque, a river ran through the forest and cut by the town and divided the field in two, the peasants who worked the land had taken advantage of this feature to divert some of the water to irrigate their crops, and the golden stalks of wheat were in stark but beautiful contrast to the green of the grass around it, the town's walls were not high, but better than what you'd find at a village, and along the walls there moved lightly armed militia patrols. It was a place on guard, but it was also obviously a place much beloved by those who lived there. The only shocking element was...in the field Gustav saw what the scouts reported. There were undead walking through the stalks of wheat, there were undead carrying baskets and buckets, the peasants who were outside the walls were simply giving directions. It was bizarre enough to give the world weary and experienced Gustav considerable pause.

"We're going down." He said softly. As he drew closer, a wind picked up, and from the center of the town where a pole stood, he saw the flags begin to wave. If he was fair, the national flag hung highest, but immediately below that was a flag he recognized very well. It was the flag of Black Justice, Neia Baraja had been here.

As he drew closer to the gate, he announced himself, "I am Commander Gustav Montagne of the Paladin Order. I seek entry to your town for myself and my men. Please send out a representative."

The man atop the wall gave a squack of surprise, but then asked him to wait a moment while he fetched the appropriate persons. Gustav was not kept waiting, the gate opened mere minutes later and out stepped three figures. In the center was a wrinkled old figure with a deep tan which spoke of long hours outdoors, probably a village elder. To his left was a younger man wearing the emblem of Black Justice, a black robe similar to that of a priest, though bearing light armor underneath it, that much was clear, and more unusual still, he was armed with a single sword...and...a prisoner's manacle on one hand, with a series of links of chain hanging from it. To the right, an armored figure wearing a black uniform replete with red, she wore plate armor with the Black Justice insignia painted on the breastplate.

Gustav froze with confusion at the unusual sight before him, but recovered after an awkward moment and bowed his head in greeting. "Hello, I'm..." He began.

The old man gave a toothy grin and raised his hand to interrupt. "No need to introduce yourself, or bow to me young fella. They told me who you are, that's why we're all here. Let me introduce myself. I'm Iskand, village chief, least until I die next week." He said with a laugh. Gustav looked surprised, "You're dying?" The priest looking fellow on the left interrupted with a sigh and a roll of his eyes.

"Pay no mind to that Commander, Iskand has been making that joke every week for the entire time I've known him, he's making fun of his own mortality. Admirable in a way, but the joke wears thin." Gustav had the courtesy the chuckle, and then the old man continued.

"We saw your scouts coming round and take off like lighting from cloud to ground, didja not expect us to be hear or something?" He asked with a chuckle.

"You?" Gustav said. "Yes. Those...no definitely not." He finished, pointing to the fields where an undead skeleton carried a heavy load.

The village chief seemed fond of laughter, because he laughed again at Gustav's answer. "First time seeing that?" He asked.

"Sort of. I mean I heard about it being done in the Capitol shortly before I left, but never up close, the furor and chaos of...well I assume you heard about it, left me with little free time to so much as leave my office, I never imagined that I'd see it anywhere else." Gustav said with a hint of awe in his voice.

"Aye we've rented them from the temple, I'll let Urgund explain." He said, and took a step back, and the priest fellow approached. "Urgund, priest of Black Justice." He said. "You want to know what's going on, and...I suppose I don't blame you for that. Simply put, this is the new way. Our temples in the service of the god of Justice, Ainz Ooal Gown, are prohibited to charge a fee for healing the people, both by law and by edict of the divine. However the temples must sustain themselves, so instead of charging to heal the living, the Sorcerer King allows us to act as brokers for him, he provides us with the undead or the means to create them, and we then rent them out to farmers, miners, merchants, and so on, and then we provide income to him, and keep a small fee by acting as the outlet for acquisition of laborers or security."

"Security?" Gustav asked.

"Aye, since your former commander has started killing us..." He began with a note of sadness.

"What?!" Gustav said, his face going pale.

"You didn't know?" The armored man interrupted. "Its true, Remedios Custodio and her renegade paladins have burned or destroyed I don't know how many villages, but many lives were lost as she moved South. I and a few like me, work for the temples and provide security."

"What do you mean, 'like you'?" Gustav asked.

"I'm Hurthis, a Red Paladin. One of the penitent ones, I was part of the paladin order in Prart, and after Neia Baraja overthrew the government there and installed a council..."

"She did what?!" Gustav said in further shock.

"Wow you've been in the field for awhile haven't you?" He asked.

Gustav swallowed. "Yes. I'm hunting Remedios Custodio."

"Not having much luck I see." Hurthis said sardonically.

"No..." Gustav said slowly, "...but I think my luck will change." He said.

Hurthis shrugged, "Anyway, after the city government of Prart was overthrown, she instituted a council, gathered the ones like me in the Paladin Order, and like Urgund among the priests, those of us who were guilty of willful blindness rather than outright corruption, and she founded two new orders. The Chained Ones wear links of chain," Urgund held up his wrist, letting the links of chain dangle freely, "where each link represents a penitent year of service; and also she founded the Red Paladins, we're also a penitent order bound to protect pilgrims and villages and others who require it. We've taken to calling it the 'Penitent's Walk'."

"So you're not stationed here then?" Gustav asked.

"No, just staying here temporarily before moving on, Urgund is waiting for his replacement in the form of a permanent priest, and I'm helping to oversee militia training, in a few weeks we'll both be gone." Hurthis said.

"Are there...a lot of you?" Gustav asked.

They both shrugged uncertainly.

"So, what is it we can do for you Commander Gustav?" Iskand asked politely.

"I've been hunting for Remedios Custodio...and exterminating the occasional band of rogue demihumans that didn't leave when they were defeated." He said simply.

"Seems like you've had more luck with the last one." Iskand said sardonically.

"My failure shames me." Gustav said with his head lowered, deep sincerity in his voice. In his own mind he could not help but think... 'Starting with my greatest failure, setting her free. How could I not see this coming, how could I have made such a mistake...I have to find her, I have to stop this...'

His morose reaction surprised the three men, and they were quick to offer apologies, "I'm sure you're doing the best you can, she's no easy one to find." Hurthis said confidently, "You'll be successful, just chase her down until she has nowhere left to run."

Gustav nodded sadly and cracked a semblance of a smile. "Thank you, I will be trying, I assure you."

"Well that's a mighty fine mission and all that," Iskand said, "but what are you needin here?"

"I just want to encamp outside the village, maybe purchase supplies, draw water to replace what we've used." Gustav said.

Iskand thought it over, "So...you're hunting Remedios so I want to say yes, but understand we're not going to change anything just because you're here, you'll be on land that serves Black Justice, we won't take down our alter, we won't be putting up anything to the old gods, and we're not going to put our undead away, if you want to encamp, leave our laborers alone, and if there's any violence by your men to either our laborers or our people, it'll be reported to the temple, and that means it'll be reported to the Sorcerer King."

Gustav was a man known for his valor, but that drew from him a quiet nod. "Your terms are acceptable, if any of my men behave in a manner that is even remotely unethical, let me know immediately, we'll arrive soon." He said.

The trio nodded politely and returned through the gate, while Gustav and his men turned back around and returned to the formation. It wasn't a long ride in terms of time, but Gustav barely noticed, and barely even heard his own voice when he gave the order to form up and move out, the march to the town took more time with such a large body of people behind him, but again he barely noticed, so consumed with his own thoughts was he. "How could it come to this..." He asked himself, Remedios Custodio, the most virtuous of paladins, the one most dedicated to vision of Queen Calca, how could she have possibly done what they say she has?" The question ran through his mind over and over. If it was true, then he shared responsibility for what she'd done. Riding at the head of the column meant nobody could see his frown, he remembered his part in getting her free, he wondered how many people had died for his loyalty.

He turned that over in his mind too, and he still had no answer when he briefed his men on the rules of their stay and made camp for the night, and he still had no answer when he closed his eyes and fell into a blessed dreamless sleep.

 **AN: You've probably figured that Remedios is either...under someone's control, cursed, or otherwise ensnared by magic...or she's gone completely off her nut...or she's just like a coin turned on its opposing side, her fanatacism having taken from good, to evil through her despair and loss and rage. And...well...no I'm not going to say who is right, you'll find out by the end of this short branch story, or maybe you'll find out as 'God Rising' moves along, I won't say about that either, its enough to know that...you will find out. :) I hope you enjoy this chapter, please feel free to review, however if you're going to ask me to stop this and focus on another one you like more, tough patooties, once begun, it must be done. :) Just take my word for it that it doesn't delay your favorites in any meaningful way.**


	4. Dead Quiet

Sleep without dreams was a lot like death. That was what Gustav thought when he woke up, he stepped out of his tent and found that it was still dark outside, the stars were beautiful, like jewels decorating the world, he arched his back slightly and breathed the night air deep into his lungs, it felt so very good to be alive, in this silent moment, where nobody needed him, bothered him, asked anything of him, and he could ask nobody for anything either, it was as if he was the only man in all the world, and it felt glorious. For those beset by responsibilities on all sides, even a few minutes with none was a godsend.

He decided to take the air and stroll for awhile. The guard was relatively light, with so many soldiers encamped, and the town's...surprisingly good walls, and the presence of the undead, he felt safe enough to allow more men extra time in their beds, and this meant he could easily walk out of the camp without being noticed. This he did, and without any particular direction, he found himself wandering over to the fields, he hadn't really noticed his direction until he found himself staring into a sea of wheat up close.

Then the skeleton stepped out of it with a basket on its head, and he fell backwards right on his ass with a start and a muffled cry. It was not every day one found one's self inches away from an eyeless, skinless, muscle free face that was moving closer under its own power, so perhaps he could forgive himself the momentary embarrassment, and he silently promised never to speak of that event as long as he lived. If the skeleton felt like telling anyone, well it gave no sign, it ignored him completely and kept walking.

This piqued his curiosity, and he walked farther into the field, eventually coming to a part where skeletons were busy turning soil and building another irrigation ditch. They swung their mattocks in a uniform steady rhythm, and showed complete indifference to his presence. It made him pause to watch, his eyes took in the impossible scene, the work they'd done was already three times what a population of humans could do, and they were still going ceaselessly. He began to understand the value behind what they were doing, and stroked his chin as he imagined how much food could be grown if such labor practices became widespread.

Every fiber of his being hated what he was seeing...except one. The part of him that loved his people, he imagined them free of injuries from farming, he imagined the vast quantities of wheat, corn, and other goods that could be grown if a tireless labor force existed that could produce it, but would consume none of it. And he began to understand Neia Baraja just a little bit better.

"You're very impressive." He said to the skeleton he was next to. It swung its mattock again.

"No really, I'm not flattering you, you're the most industrious worker I've ever seen." He said.

It swung it's mattock again. If it cared for the praise, it gave no sign.

Gustav laughed. "Don't say much do you?" He asked it, and it swung its mattock again.

"Perhaps that is for the best," Gustav said, "You won't be inclined to say anything. See, I did something bad, I didn't know it was bad at the time." The skeleton knelt and began using a small shovel to scoop the earth into a bucket, which it then began to pile along the side of the ditch as a kind of crude simplistic barrier against overflow.

"See, I let Remedios go, I know, I'm sure you're shocked. It's no wonder you're speechless." He said to the silent skeleton. He saw a hoe on the ground and picked it up, he stood it up and leand on it casually. "See, she was my commander, and yeah, she did something bad, really bad, and maybe she did deserve her sentence, but what could I do? We fought together so many times, I had to save her life if I could. How was I supposed to know she'd...well start doing what she's been doing?" The skeleton took up it's mattock again, moved a few inches over, and began to swing it again.

Gustav's hands began to rotate as he spoke, spilling the story out to the undead worker, "I mean yeah, when they tasked me to capture her, I thought this was a chance to protect her some more, I thought to myself, 'Hey, all you have to do is fail, and she'll be able to escape somewhere and be safe beyond our reach.' Kind of stupid now that I think about it, she's relentless. You think I should have known that, don't you?" The skeleton swung again, its back was to him now.

"I know that's what you think, after all, she was already prepared to murder hundreds of people, she tried to kill Neia Baraja while Neia was unarmed, unarmored, not resisting, and refusing to fight. Sure Neia is the figure of change, but if she could do that, and lead an attack to kill people in their sleep in our capitol, why wouldn't she target similar people in mere villages?" He shook his head.

"So what am I supposed to do? What would you do...other than swing that mattock some more?" He asked the skeleton laborer.

"No, giving me the silent treatment isn't a solution, that helps me not even a little. I know, you want me to realize that whoever she was, I have to act on who she is. You think I should be genuinely hunting her, that I kind of already said something like that without...you know...admitting I'd been faking it this whole time up to now so she could escape. You're so judgemental for a skeleton." He said, and then let out a heavy sigh.

"You're right, you're right, she was always somewhat twisted, I mean she'd kill demihuman children, infants, even slay them in their mother's arms, honestly to many of them, she must have been the monster, the only difference between then and now is that she was our monster and now she is our problem. Her single minded fanatacism to Queen Calca's dream had lead her to turn everyone not part of her dogmatic approach into a heteromorph or a demihuman in her mind.

He shook his head sadly, "I can't argue with you mr. skeleton. Before, that might have been fine, since it was turned against actual dangers to the people of this country...but now...single-minded fanaticism, her need to do terrible things in the name of righteousness. She's become a rabid animal, a wolf turned against it's own pack, and because she has become rabid, destructive, and incapable of nuanced understanding...she must be put down." He stood up straight and cast the hoe down that he was leaning on.

"You're very wise for a skeleton." He said wryly, "Nice talking to you."

He started walking away, and the skeleton continued to swing it's mattock, and as he walked away, he looked back, just as it was kneeling to the earth with its bucket again he said, "I'll do it. I'll put her down. But...I'll never be proud of it, and it will never make up for my mistake in freeing her in the first place." His voice, soft as it was, surely carried to the skeleton, but it didn't care, it didn't have to, it was enough that Gustav cared, and that he meant it.

He went back to his tent after that, and slept soundly until dawn.

 _...A Black Justice town, south of the Abelion Hills, East of the Capitol..._

Blue rose sat at the table in an inn, gaping open mouthed as skeleton waiters carried food from the kitchen to the table. Human servers were not lacking, but they seemed to specialize in both taking orders and providing tableside entertainment, some of them did magic that wasn't actually magic, just slight of hand trickery, but which was nonetheless amusing to watch, others juggled or played an instrument. "I...don't know quite what to make of all this." Lakyus said softly.

"Forget that, did you see the training this afternoon?" Gagaran said in a softer than usual voice. Those skeletons repeated the same motion over and over, and the peasants...peasants...were taking the time to practice dodging, ducking, and countering. They were getting hours of practice in, with minimal need for an actual instructor...and that instructor though..." Gagaran grinned, "I wonder if he was cherry."

Evileye didn't bother to hold in her laugh. "Battle and bed bouncing, is that all there is to you?" She asked. Gagaran swept her arm out wide and swift and snatched the mug of beer from in front of Evileye and promptly swallowed it all. "Nope, there's also beer!" She grinned mischievously, and Evileye, far from being mad, was in such good spirits that she ordered another rather than complain. The twins and Lakyus however, made sure to be openly more protective of theirs, clutching it close so as to not lose it to the giant woman.

"Fun is fun," Lakyus said, but think about everything else, the fields were vastly expanded beyond what a town even this large could do, the guards had uncommonly good equipment, the priest...the PRIEST," Lakyus said twice for emphasis, "was healing people for free, everyone who came to him, in the order that they came to them, skipping order only for emergencies. The temples don't make money on healing, its all on renting out THESE!" She said and swept her hand out to encompass the undead moving indifferently around the restaurant.

"Isn't all this...OK?" Tina asked. She placed her elbow vertically on the table and opened her hand outward and asked further, "Blue Rose protects people, these are helping the people, or at least not hurting them, and I'd say helping is the right word."

"What happens when they turn on them?" Tia asked in a rare moment of disagreement.

"Fair question." Evileye said. "If only Momon were here to..." They let out a collective sigh just as their food arrived, giving Evileye pause.

"Excuse us." Evileye turned to the server, a young woman in a loose tan cotten shirt and pants, her hair was blonde and her eyes were brown with a happy twinkle to them that made it impossible not to notice and like her immediately, she seemed to have a perpetual smile on her face, and it was hard to imagine her lying. The woman paused before leaving and asked curiously, "Can I help you with anything else miss?"

"Yes, we have...a few questions, we're new here and this...undead presence, has us thrown for a loop. Could we borrow you for a moment?" Evileye asked.

The woman shrugged and pulled up a chair, she sat down at the table and leaned in, "Now, what can I do ya for girls?" she said with a smile as her hands clasped together on the table in front of her.

"I suppose the first question is...aren't you uncomfortable around this many undead? I mean you know what they'd do if they were not controlled, right?" Lakyus asked.

The woman shrugged, "No worse than what the demihumans did, and no worse than what the less kind noble that used to live here used to do to us. Yeah sure, we know what they'd do, but so what? Anything can be dangerous, but this is a huge opportunity, and these also don't have the option to not be under control, ya know. They can't just decide to rebel." She said with a smile.

That put a slightly different perspective on the table that, though they knew it, they hadn't really considered. "OK, fair enough, if they can't actually choose to turn on you, I guess in some ways they're safer than demihumans, nobles, or even other common people." Lakyus answered.

"Who controls them?" Lakyus asked.

"The Sorcerer King creates them, then he binds them to the wands, the wands are bound to the temple, and then the temple rents out the wand and passes instructional control over to the renter." She said sweetly.

"So, what if the renter decides to use them for violence?" Lakyus asked.

"Well, my dad is the owner of this place and he's the one who rented these out, so I asked that question, and he said that part of the contract of control is a limitation on actions. They're not able to hurt people, though they can defend themselves, if my dad tried to use them to become a bandit or something, they'd secure him and drag him to the temple and he'd be compelled by magic to reveal why they captured him." The server answered. "See, perfectly safe."

"Impressive." Lakyus said, "Someone wrote a very thorough contract. Plenty of failsafes for safety, ethical restrictions on misuse, he really thought of everything." Lakyus elaborated and drank from her tankard.

"I don't know quite how I feel about that." Gagaran said.

"Well, honestly, I feel pretty good about it." Evileye said. "Would we be better off if the Sorcerer King had all that power, but was also a violent, unhinged, idiotic brute? No idea what he really wants, but...he's going about getting it in some interesting ways."

There were nods of agreement before silence reigned and they turned to watch a bard come up on stage to sing the final song of the evening...

 _...In the camp of the renegade paladins..._

The chopping went on for some time, until within the wooded area, they had created several small areas suitable for training, and they had not finished a moment to soon. Several trainees had arrived, lead by one tall broad shouldered figure, he approached and called out to the sentries, and when he stated his purpose, he was escorted to one of the open circle areas.

Remedios had taken a seat on a nearby stump, and her gaze pierced the unarmed and unarmored man. "You're here to fight?" She asked him bluntly.

"Aye." He answered. "The temples say the gods forgive the sins of those who die in their service, or who serve them till they die. If I can do one or the other, I'm OK with that."

"Well you're a big one, but we'll see if that makes you a good one." Remedios said. Others who came in gave similar answers, much to the dull witted Remedios's confusion until Yuri explained it to her.

"Commander Remedios, the temples are lending their support to you. By making service to you a service to the gods, one worthy of their favor and forgiveness, the temples are drawing people with deep spiritual needs to you, with enough such people, you'll have an army, and with an army, we can...how did you put it? Burn them all?" Yuri said with a vicious smile.

Remedios smiled back at her, it was the first time they shared the same expression at the same time for the same thing.

Remedios however, a veteran of many battles, had seen what inexperience did to people in hard conditions. "Will they really go as far as I want them to, as we need them to?" Remedios asked. "They're just peasants themselves." She said.

Yuri shrugged. "I think so, they'll be trained so roughly and harshly, so thoroughly broken down from who they were, that they'll be ready when the time comes, if only because they'll need the identity, the gods will forgive them, and if they lose the weak self alone the way and become strong enough to serve the gods as you do, well so much the better." Yuri said with flattery.

Remedios regained her smile, flattery was never something she rejected. "See to it then." She then went back into her tent and knelt before the sword. "Don't worry Calca, I'll burn them all, in fires hot enough for you to rise from them, in fires hot enough that Jaldabaoth will scream, in fires that will terrify heretics for ten thousand years to come."

Remedios's eyes filled with tears as she stared into the sword and saw only her own face. "You're angry with me, aren't you. Because I went South? Please believe me, I haven't given up, we just...we need people and resources, I promise I'll start raiding North again soon, we just need a stronghold we can operate out of, resupply from, and otherwise use for all our purposes. Please believe me my Queen, all will be as it was." She whispered, and caressed the blade, not even noticing that she cut her fingers on the razor sharp edges.

 _...In the private chamber of Count Handor..._

Handor woke up with a start, a hand covering his mouth and a dagger at his throat.

"If you hope to live, do not move an eyelash." A voice whispered.

"You will stay silent, yes?" Another voice whispered.

He didn't move.

"OK you can move an eyelash, blink if you will stay silent." The man said as a candle was lit, he could see four men in the room with him, all dressed in midnight blue clothing and wearing black masks to hide their faces.

The hand was removed from his mouth, the man stepped back.

"So, are we good enough to kill the King for you?" The man asked, and he sheathed his knife and bowed politely.

Dawning of the situation slowly struck, and his eyes widened.

"Yes, you'll do nicely. Kill the King, but do it SOON." He said the last word harshly for emphasis. "But one more thing." He asked just as they were turning towards the window to go.

"Yes my lord?" One asked curiously.

"Clearly you are good at what you do, but this also means my guards are very inept. As a...favor, kill the two guards outside my door, and the two guards outside on the ground below. I will not sleep easy with incompetents around, and this may be...instructive, to the next four who take their places."

The group of men bowed again, "To make up for the rudeness of our...introduction, we will do as you request, a favor to you before the larger task." The man who appeared to lead them said, and Handor lay back in his bed. "Very good, I'll be back to sleep then." He said, and pulled the blankets off as the sound of a door opening followed by muffled cries and cutting flesh was replaced by gurgling as men close by choked on their own blood. It was comforting to dispense with the inept, though he couldn't hear what happened far down below, he doubted they fared any better. When he drifted off to sleep as the blood of his guards seeped under the door and into his bedroom, his dreams were sweet, as he envisioned himself on the throne where he truly...definitely, belonged.

 **AN: Well, there you go you greedy bastards. :) Three chapters in one day, would be five, but I want to revise some dialogue and it is late and I am tired, so...for now, no dice. :) Enjoy what you have, and know that there is more coming. I hope you liked a better look at Gustav's perspective and the way his complicity and internal conflict played out. Not to be vain, but I liked his casual conversation with the skeleton. Anyway, thanks again for reading, reviews welcome, now goodnight! :)**


	5. Tendrils of Torment

_...In Kikreaan Forest, the camp of Remedios Custodio..._

Remedios walked through the camp with Yuri beside her. The two didn't look at each other, instead they were inspecting the area, Yuri had taken Gustav's place as her favorite sounding board since they had parted ways weeks and weeks before. Now except when alone in her tent, Remedios was almost always with the woman just as she was now...inspecting the camp or meeting with supporters.

Inspection was the order of the day just now, and Remedios peppered her with questions. "How good are the soldiers now?" She asked the serenely cruel face of Yuri.

"Its hard to say exactly, but I'd put them a smidgen above iron ranked adventurers, and they are improving. I put one with a wooden spear up against a captured wolf, and he didn't run away, he actually killed it by himself with a spear and a dagger. I let him skin the thing and he's going to be wearing that as his rank, I've decided to give him a platoon of about sixty to one hundred men and women." Yuri said with satisfaction.

"What about the size of the camp, we keep getting more people in, those priests moving all over the place have done a lot for us in villages and cities farther South, but I'm concerned about supplies." Remedios said.

"Reasonable." Yuri said as she, reached out and took an apple from a basket as they passed by, she took a bite and chewed slowly as she thought of how to put her answer in such a way that this imbecilic paladin could get it.

"I'd say if we got no new supplies at all, we could go perhaps three months, assuming that new recruits came with packs of supplies of their own and that our numbers grew no more quickly than they currently are." She said as she swallowed the bite, the juice was delicious, not for nothing was this one of her favorite foods.

"We can't stay in the forest forever though." Remedios said, ducking under an overhang from a tent that was just going up. "We've held off on more attacks for awhile now and the recruits are growing restless. We need action." She said.

It was then that they reached Remedios's tent and she lifted the flap and walked in, she didn't hold the flap for Yuri, but by now the woman knew that Remedios wasn't telling her to stay out, only that she didn't care enough to be polite about letting the woman in, so she simply pushed it aside herself and walked to the command table.

"There is a city...not that far from here. My contacts have told me that they have their own priests already embedded in the place, those men will help us when the opportunity comes, all we have to do is create the opportunity. There are around ten thousand heretics there, but we could take the city with just about five thousand heads, maybe a few more, if...if...we put some fear into them first. Drive the city to desperate straits, and we can even risk minimal loss to the people, while we cut out the infection of the heretics."

"I don't want to lose anyone." Remedios said, a rare untwisted moment for the woman, Yuri paused, she had to exercise care here or Remedios would just continue to dither.

"They're soldiers." Yuri said slowly, "Voluntarily dying for the gods and for Calca's dream." Her voice was smooth as butter cream.

"They're not soldiers..." Remedios began to say, but Yuri's voice was practically a mother's warm whispered soothing spell into a fussy infant's ear.

"Yes...they are, sacrificing themselves to protect Calca's dream, they're no less paladin or squire than anyone here, they're simply held back by the heretics, any of them who die will instantly attain the reward of the gods, they will not suffer long, we will save them, we will save them all." She said.

Remedios looked down at the map, "Yes...we'll save them, they'll see it in the fire light when we burn the heretics at the stake, we'll save them from the spiritual heteromorphs and they'll be so grateful..." She said, envisioning the people cheering Calca's dream coming true as the heretics turned to ash.

"Yes, they'll be grateful, you want them to be grateful to Queen Calca right?" Yuri said as if to a simple child.

"I do." Remedios said. "What is the name of this place?" She asked.

"Kedyn." Yuri replied, "If I send five thousand there, along with enough supplies to get started, they can forage for the remainder and we can buy up some extras from within the city before they know we're there."

"Should I go myself?" Remedios asked.

"No." Yuri said, "You're the symbol for all this, a minor expedition shouldn't require your attention, and this will be the first big blow, the corrupt King will have to acknowledge your actions and choose a side, either the side of the former Queen...or that of the worshipers of the Undead King. This is especially critical now, because I understand that the Holy Book for the evil religion is well under way, if we take the city before he comes down on either side...we can force him to recognize the force and power of the legacy of Calca, if he then gives us official sanction and support, we'll have the backing of most of the nation."

How much Remedios actually understood, well that was something Yuri wasn't too sure of. However the paladin did nod, and that was encouraging. "Alright, do it. Take Kedyn. If the city offers terms of surrender, let it be known that all nonmembers of Black Justice are to be left unharmed, and all members of Black Justice executed. We will allow the property of the dead to be divided among the rest of the city, while we take only what we need to continue the cleansing of heresy in the Holy Kingdom."

"Calca would approve." Yuri assured the woman, words like that always encouraged Remedios and clearly made her feel better. She reached out and touched Remedios on the shoulder, "It may take a year or two or even five, but we'll purge the country of all this undead heresy."

She spoke with confidence that also reassured Remedios, and then the paladin commander sighed, "Could you leave me for awhile, I have to think." She said.

Yuri nodded somberly and walked out, no sooner did she leave the tent than she relaxed, getting Remedios to act was always a hit or miss thing, she always had to work within the woman's moral framework to justify things, pure pragmatism was just not good enough...but if she got her to accept that the gods wished it and Calca would have approved, there was nothing the woman wouldn't do.

She went out and drafted the order, setting the march toward's Kedyn underway. (*AN: For the Events of Kedyn, read through the story 'Unholy Rose')

When she was alone, Remedios removed her sword and stabbed it into the ground so that it stood upright from its point, she held the crossguard to still its motion, and she looked into the shining reflection of the metal and said, "My Queen I have begun to work your will in earnest, please...tell me that I am doing as I should, tell me you are proud of me...please...tell me anything." Her voice was soft and desperate, and then she saw it, Calca's face reflected back at her in place of her own.

"Yes, but this is only a small part. Neia Baraja moves South, you have avoided her as she moves to Yanana, I will forgive this for now, because you will catch up to her when your army, my army, is ready...or do you no longer follow me?" The face said, appearing as if it were about to weep, it flung Remedios into a desperate tone of voice as she tried to respond, "I would die before failing you twice my Queen...I will have an army ready, where do I meet the worst of the heretics?" She asked.

"Wenmark." The Queen said. "In Wenmark you will strike when the Heretic King dies, and you will burn out the heretics who have come South, and then you will rally the people, you will move north with all your armies, you will work my will and see my vision of this Kingdom fulfilled...or I will never...ever forgive you..."

The face faded away and Remedios leaned forward against the sword, pressing her lips to the steel as if kissing the hand of a noblewoman and saying, "I swear, I will never fail you again."

 _...In Nazarick..._

Demiurge walked contentedly through the corridors humming a little tune and occasionally spouting off some lyrics after ending the spell...

Once was a girl afire for god

Alas her priest he was a fraud

She killed who he said

Deserved to be dead

She hap'ly severed evr'y head

She bound em trussed up for the fire

And smiled all the whole damn while

Never saw the devil's eyes

With her eyes lookin up to the skies

He laughed and laughed and laughed as he hummed the little tune, he had an almost 'jaunty' walk in moments like this, when everything came together so very, very well, and it was that mood that he held when he encountered Shalltear in his Happy Farm. She was using some of his tools to torment her vampire brides when he came in, he didn't particularly mind her visits, they had such similar tastes, but he never liked it when she depleted his stores to slake her thirst for blood.

"Shalltear, what brings you here today?" He asked politely.

"Nothing special, just tormenting my vampire brides, they've been very naughty." She said, a twisted and warped look on her face as they cowered from her wrath.

"Don't you have your own tools?" He asked politely, knowing full well she did.

"Well yes, but you have such variable ones that I don't, I can whip flesh away, but not skin it, for example." She said with a childlike pout on her face that was starkly contrasting against the dark things she was saying.

Demiurge was in a very perky mood just now, and so he chose to indulge her, "Well why don't I just have some made for you then, you can borrow these for now, just clean them when you return them, and I'll have a new set for you when you come back." He said with a very friendly smile.

"You're in a pleasant mood today." She said with a smile, "Something is going well, do tell, what is it? Has our unfathomable master done something new today?"

"Not that I know of," Demiurge said, "Its just that seeing everything coming together is so...satisfying. I just finished playing with Remedios again, she's convinced she's doing Calca's will, and all it took was the voice of that idiot queen and an illusion of her face, she's completely mentally broken. I know everything those fools in the Theocracy want her to do, but she will actually do only what "I" tell her to. I don't know how our impossibly wise master comes up with these plans." He said in an awed voice.

"Neither do I." Shalltear said softly, "It makes me feel so useless sometimes." She said.

"Fear not Shalltear, you have proven your usefulness to our master, now you must only grow, and the supreme ones value that ability in us, so simply work hard, and Lord Ainz will see the depth of your devotion again, and again, and again." Demiurge said, reaching out and patting her head as one would a little sister.

Such a gesture in other conditions might have been taken badly, but in this instance, she was grateful for the positive reinforcement. "Thank you Demiurge, your words are a great comfort to me." She said, "I'll leave you to your work, I know you've got a dragon to skin again."

"Yes I do, but it was nice to see you enjoying yourself today, till next time Shalltear." Demiurge said as they crossed paths and Demiurge headed towards the dragon he intended to personally skin alive.

 _...Much later, outside The Great Forest of Kedyn..._

Rorick was tired. He'd checked all his traps, so that was normal. What wasn't normal was that they were all fucking empty! Every single one had been sprung, but all of them were devoid of prey, the dead falls, the snares, everything, and this had been going on for weeks.

"I swear by all the gods as soon as I find the fucking poachers who keep emptying my goddamn traps and taking my kills I'm going to toss them into a deadfall myself!" He snarled.

If that hadn't been enough, a lot of his friends had gone missing in the forest lately. Most people thought there was a monster out here now, and were refusing to go out at all, but Rorick...Rorick knew better.

"Damn fools." He said aloud to himself, "A monster wouldn't need to empty out our traps, its got to be poachers doing it."

He knew that didn't really explain the disappearances, but...stubborn as he was, Rorick didn't like to think much about things that contradicted his expectations. Poachers he figured, and poachers he stuck with.

That is...until NOT poachers, was evident in front of his eyes, he'd heard a noise, voices carried on the wind, how far away they were was uncertain, but certainty he wanted. So Rorick slowed his pace until he came to the river, then he slid himself down the embankment and into the beautiful chilly waters, and waded slowly across.

All his exhaustion had melted away as he focused on finding the source of those voices. Poachers didn't sound like that, they worked alone or in small groups, they didn't 'build' things, and Rorick was sure he heard the sound of construction out there. Eventually he managed to get a glimpse of human heads, and felt relief that it wasn't monsters after all. Professed doubt or not, well he feared being wrong and was relieved at least in part that he was right, they weren't monsters, just people.

He crept closer, they were wearing uniforms, carrying weapons, spears, swords, bows, and there were many of them, from his vantage he could see there was a sprawling encampment beyond the tree line.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit..." he whispered low under his breath as he realized that there was only one reason to have an army this close to any city and still not have the city know about it. Stuborn he was, stupid he was not, and he began to back away ever so slowly, he had to warn everybody, they'd be caught by surprise and Kedyn would be done for.

As he crept backwards however, he slipped on a passing turtle and fell sprawling into a bush creating a loud ruckus, it was enough to get an idle sentry's eye and the alarm was sounded.

"Get him! Get that one! Don't let him escape!" The soldiers shouted and pointed in his direction, a dozen men took off running, but this was Rorick's home forest, even if it was deeper than he usually went, home it still was, and it showed, arrows flew and stuck in trees, but he was careful, so careful, to keep thicker trees between he and any clean shot.

His lungs burned as the long day's exhaustion caught up to him, but even if he was lightly armed with only a bow and they were wearing armor, they were fresh and he'd been walking for most of the day.

That took its toll, he had to lose him, he had to cross the river. He spun and drew his bow and fired an arrow at his pursuers, it was a wild shot but it spooked them enough to stop their pursuit and fire back at him in return. Arrows wished back and forth as he caught his breath, he fired two more and turns and ran again.

Closer to the river, he caught his breath once more and fired off several arrows before reaching for his quiver and finding it empty. "SHIT!" He snarled to himself and discarded both the quiver and the bow. He ran as hard as he could, if he could make it over the river, he could gain enough of a head start that he'd be able to lose them.

He pushed branches out of the way, leapt over bushes, and then he saw it in front of him, the river, he'd never been so glad for mud and water in his life, he pushed out every inch of willpower in his body and broke through the clearing and did not stop, his left leg came out as he pushed off his right, making perhaps the best jump of his life, it wouldn't clear the other side, but it would get him high enough on the other bank that it would take just a second or two for him to get over the top and make his escape.

His leap felt wonderful, it felt glorious, even through all the fear, he felt confident his city would be safe...right up until the arrow buried itself between his shoulder blades by several inches and he hit the other embankment and tumbled over, he rolled over back the red mud and into the water, it was cool and it felt good on the skin, the force of his roll had snapped the arrow off but left a part of it in his body, and that sent waves of pain through his flesh. He looked out of the corner of his eye and could see that the blood was leaving his body and mixing with the clear waters of the river. He reached out a hand as if to catch the blood as it dissipated. "Hey...he said...get back here..." he said to the blood. "You belong...inside...my body...I need you...my city...my home..." He said, his eyes catching a look at the soldiers who had caught up and were standing at the river's edge, looking down at Rorick's bleeding form.

They wore short beards and mustaches, good chain linked armor, they looked formidable to Rorick's peasant eyes, but all he could feel now was contempt for them, and he put his remaining strength as they looked down at him, into turning one hand up, and raising his middle finger before his eyes closed at last.

"Should we get the body?" One of the soldier's asked?

"No." The soldier said, looking up at the sky, "It'll be raining soon if the sky is tellin the truth by the look of them clouds. When it does, he'll be swept down stream, ain't nothin to worry about, and I don't fancy draggin his stinkin corpse back to camp and explainin how close he was to gettin away. Far as I'm concerned, we caught up to him about half a mile back there, killed him an buried him, an then we went out checkin to see if he had any friends with him. I ain't goin to splain how he almost outran us by gettin this far." The soldier said to his comrades, and they gave him nods of agreement and walked away.

The rains did come just as the soldier predicted, and Rorick's body was lifted up from the mud just enough to pull him into the center of the river and float him downstream, and his spirit, though it had exited his body, had remained behind to watch, hoping that the gods listened even to the less than faithful, and he reacted with the utmost joy when he saw the adventurer's pull his corpse out from the river.

"Ha! Serves you right mother fuckers!" He snapped silently, looking over in the direction of the camp, "I managed to fuck you after all."

So when Lakyus returned and gave his body the final burial she had promised it, his spirit truly did rest in peace the way she wished him to...even if nobody knew it. (Unholy Rose C17)

 _...Private champters of Count Handor...Capitol City of the Roble Holy Kingdom..._

Handor was reviewing documents. He did a lot of that, the Slane Theocracy loved documents. He sighed. He didn't blame them, trying to remember everything in these reports would have been impossible, no wonder they wrote everything down. He however, was no fool, he got what he needed in short, then burned the documents in the fireplace to keep from forming a trail of paper. The military of the Slane Theocracy was being mobilized in full, nominally it was to finish off the elves, but Handor knew the truth, he knew because they were using his family's connections in the South to establish friendly ports they could land in, when he 'invited' them to restore order, and he ordered the heretics to to leave his country, he would reign supreme.

He smiled with smug self satisfaction as he began to imagine the shock on the Undead King's face when he had thousands and thousands of worshipers begging to enter his kingdom, and he'd have no choice since it was that or watch them die as the rightful government established itself against an 'insurrection'.

He frowned and stroked his chin. "Can an undead skeleton make expressions?" He wondered, "I guess it can open its mouth...that is...kind of an expression...I guess?" He wondered aloud. He shrugged off the thought with a much amused giggle and imagined what he'd do next, with so many people gone and so much property freed up by expulsions and executions, he'd put Remedios in charge of the Paladins again and forge close ties with the Slane Theocracy, he'd offer land and goods to many of their peasants to rebuild his numbers, and he'd become their personal patron, establishing new loyalty and instilling new nobles to replace the ones who had opposed him, drawing the unhappy 'spares' of the South to become great lords in the North, the Sorcerer King could sputter, but his worst spell was years away from use and there wasn't a ready justification for military intervention, and the Sorcerer King was undead, he was used to just using power, how good could he be at politics and manipulation? He was out of his depth where Handor was a master manipulator.

He came across a report of a failed poisoning attempt on Caspond. They'd tried multiple times to poison him, but he seemed to have some sort of natural immunity to toxins and poisons...perhaps that had helped him survive imprisonment, a more brutal method would be required and that was all there was to it. He quickly scribbled a note and summoned a servant and ordered it taken to the appropriate party, it was a summons calling for the assassins to return, he'd give them verbal authorization, nothing in writing, just an authorization to clean his private chambers.

When they came that night he wasn't in bed, the last time they'd woken him up had been unpleasant to say the least. Instead he chose to wait in the corner watching the window. So when they came out of his windowless bathroom and alerted him to their presence by throwing a dagger past his face and into a dresser it had been a terrible shock...and he'd ruined yet another good pair of pants.

"How did you..."

"We climbed up the shute." One of them said, the stench giving away the truthfulness of his statement.

Equal parts impressed, disgusted, and at least a little bit frightened for good measure, Handor decided to make this quick. "Poisons are simply not working, its like he doesn't even notice that they're there."

The leader raised an eyebrow. "That much resistance seems almost impossible."

"I don't care what it seems...that is how it is. I've seen him drink from poisoned cups and directly from poisoned wine and eat poisoned food with every poison you've proposed using and everything you've slipped into place, he must have just been born with some kind of immunity as his ability, and its just nobody has ever noticed before." Handor said in frustration.

The man frowned, his rough face taking on an even more unpleasant look than usual as he looked back at his comrades. "I've never seen that before. You all?" A round of shaking heads followed.

"Seen it or not, he's still alive and you're still not getting paid until that changes." Handor said, crossing his arms defiantly.

He didn't flinch when the assassin growled.

"You want money, I want a regicide. Get it done and soon. If it doesn't happen before he secures official ties to the Sorcerer King, this will all be for nothing and I'll end up a vassal in a vassal state under an undead worshiper that is present instead of a king under gods that don't give a damn. Get me his gods be damned head." Handor said emphatically.

"Want it painful?" The leader asked begrudgingly.

Handor actually paused just as he was about to say, "Just do it quickly." He gave it more thought.

"Yes. If you can manage painful without getting caught." Handor said. "He's proven to be to much of a bother, it was fine to kill him quickly, but he had to go and refuse to die, so now I'll be less merciful. Make it hurt, as much as you can, for as long as you can." Handor said, his arrogant smile forming on his face as he imagined King Caspond begging for his life like a dog.

"It will be done...your majesty." The assassin said with a half mocking smile and a bow, before he and his people went to the window to make their exit.

Handor slept very, very well that night, with dreams of coins and crowns dancing in his head.

 **AN: Yeah yeah I know you've been waiting a few days, tough patooties, I thought I'd let out my inner Demiurge and release a few chapters in one go instead of releasing them on the usual schedule. SUFFER for the author's pleasure! MWAHAHAHAHAHA! I kid, I kid. I did plan on doing a few chapters in one go, but more because I wanted to flesh out a few details and I had to dig in to a few subjects first. Of course reviews are needed to sustain me, lest I starve. But just a quick note, if you review 'without' an account, and you're just 'guest' I'll have to answer your questions in the end author notes in successive chapters. I've heard that some authors get fairly defensive about their work, all I can tell you is that I don't, my ego is so overwhelmingly massive that it doesn't hurt my feelings to take a little constructive criticism. :) Also, hope you liked that little vignette explaining the body in the river from 'Unholy Rose'. Since all my stories link together, you can definitely expect overlap. Of course you can enjoy them individually, but you'll miss some good stuff along the way that fills in gaps and answers questions you may have. So...have fun with that, and have an Ainztastic day.**


	6. In With the New

**(*AN: The Queen in the Sword story has fallen behind a bit, I was having SOOOOOO much fun with 'Unholy Rose' and 'God Rising' that what I had INTENDED to write in TANDEM...ended up jumping ahead much farther than I wished it to, soooo...I need to do a few chapters here before this story 'rejoins' God Rising. The idea being that this fills in events that lead up to the the main conflict that will spark in the God Rising event series, THIS story will 'end' with Remedios's marching on Wenmark and the war that results, after which she'll only be seen through the main storyline. Soooo...catchup on this one, won't be long, just a handful of additional chapters, you can more or less place the events in the timeline via what events are referenced in the story. The events of 'Unholy Rose & The Lemurian Paradox' run through the events depicted in the Queen in the Sword, as indicate by her previously dispatching troops to take Kedyn...if you read Unholy Rose, you know how that goes, and if you read God Rising, you know that when Neia appeals for aid from Ainz while in Wenmark, its unavailable as he is currently touring his domain, in the events of The Lemurian Paradox.**

 **Yes, all these stories are indeed tied together. And yes, eventually I may put together a proper visual timeline displaying the overall series of events, if one of you readers wants to get a jump on that ahead of me, please be my guest, I'm enjoying the story progress to much to be distracted. Thanks for reading, now here we go!)**

 _...Kikreaan Forest...Remedios's Camp..._

Remedios slept fitfully, that was normal for her now. When darkness descended and the world was black, the nightmare that was Jaldabaoth flashed behind her eyes, no matter how tightly she shut them, no matter how she tried, she could not keep the monster out. Again and again she saw him toss the remnants of Queen Calca's corpse, over and over she knelt crying out over the mutilated parts that he had discarded like garbage. Sometimes the norm was broken though, and those were the nights when the darkness was pierced by burning heretics in the forest.

It was as if the fires kept away the nightmares by minimizing the darkness, the spiritual heteromorphs, the heretics, were harder to come by this far South, but every now and then they caught someone. Enough at least that...well, once a week Remedios was sure to have a good night's sleep. This night was not one of those, there were no fires, there were no heretics in easy reach, and indeed few travelers other than recruits who found their way to her, were now traveling the road outside the wood. Rumors were probably swirling about the disappearances now, and it wouldn't be long before she'd would have to move camp, in the meantime she continued to train recruits and gather supplies, it was all she could do as she prepared and gathered her strength, she was sure Gustav was still out there somewhere, even if he had no idea where she was at the moment, even if he had set her free...she couldn't be sure he'd do it twice, and that haunted her too as she tried to make herself comfortable, clinging to her sword as she struggled to find the rest that was beyond her.

In the morning she awoke red eyed and with a small amount of blood on her arms, clinging to her naked blade at night would occasionally cut her a bit when she moved the wrong way, it stung in the morning, but it was the only comfort she could find without the fires of justice against the undead heresy.

She dispatched scouts to Yanana to find out what Neia had done there, and dispatched scouts to the north in search of Gustav's forces, but for the moment there was nothing she could do but sit and wait. "Soon my Queen, just...please be patient with me." The mad eyed paladin whispered softly to her sword. Yuri approached a moment later, and Remedios looked at her blankly.

"Ahhh...the new recruits are ready Commander." Yuri said. She hated these moments, as much as she loved the bloodshed, as much as she loved the death, as much as she loved the smell of burning human flesh...when she looked into the eyes of Commander Remedios, she felt the tendrils of death closing around her own heart, like cold icy fingers massaging the beating, pulsing organ, and wondering if it would beat faster as the fires claimed it. She shivered internally, but outwardly concealed what she felt for the mad woman.

Remedios nodded. "Take me to them."

Yuri nodded in return, "They're over here..." she said, and they walked between the now wide cut row of trees that had created a makeshift road into the center of camp. There were hundreds of people standing in rows, dressed more or less alike, they were clearly peasants, mostly men, but a few women also. Remedios stepped into the clearing and began to walk in front of the rows, her burning eyes made those who caught them shiver outwardly as they were very poor at concealing what they felt. Remedios stopped in front of one man, she came up to him, close, very close...she leaned in, inches from his face. "Why are you here?" She asked.

"H-heretics have to be fought! I got'ta kill em, I got'ta protect my family!" He stuttered out, averting his eyes.

"Will you die to do it?" She asked.

He nodded numbly.

"Then you'll do." She said.

She stepped back from the man as he breathed a sigh of relief, she resumed her walk in front of them, then did an about face and walked to the center about twenty feet from the formation.

"Who came here to kill the heretics?!" She shouted.

A cheer greeted her.

"Know this!" She continued, "These servants of the undead have sold away their souls! They are not human, no matter HOW they look! They have the spirits of heteromorphs inside them! How else can they serve the undead except by trading away their humanity?!"

Dark murmurs rose from the crowd.

"They are vile! They are evil! They spit on the gods who warded them, they FAILED the test of the gods, they betrayed the memory of our Queen! You have heard from the priests what they do! Will you let them do that to US?! To your families?! To your villages?! Or will you place yourself in their path and say...NOT ONE STEP MORE?!" She shouted loud enough that if the formation had been a hundred men deep, they could have heard her clearly there.

"Not one step more!" They shouted. "Not one step more! Not one step more! Not one step more! Not one step more!" They took up the cry and raised their weapons, some had swords, most had only knives or spears, a few had only pitchforks, but they were held with vigor, over and over stabbing into the air as if the air itself was heretical and had to be put down.

"Then you'll do!" She shouted to them, and gestured to Yuri who stood a few feet back and to the left. Yuri stepped forward and looked over the crowd.

"This is Yuri, she will see to your training, you will obey her in everything, because if you don't, you will have no other fate but to die on the battlefield or here in the forest, anyone who wants to skip training, has to challenge me, if you're not prepared to do that, then WORK HARDER!" Remedios said firmly, finishing with a shout.

"They're all yours." Remedios said, and walked away, while behind her Yuri began to instruct the peasants on how to do pushups, the hardy peasants had expected it to be easy, but as they moved in the slow rhythm that was set for them, the grunts and groans were quick to set in.

Other more experienced recruits were watching with great amusement as the peasants found that not many of them were nearly as strong as they had believed themselves to be. Some made bets about which peasant's arms would fail first, others just laughed at the struggling masses.

Remedios paid little mind to that, even at her worst she knew that this kind of process was necessary, and she knew that experienced people needed to set themselves apart from the newcomers to the group. It was beneath her anyway, she had enough to do.

Yuri however, was enjoying this part, it didn't really matter who she hurt, only that someone hurt, and when they started to drop like moths that flew into a fire, she kicked up her pace and ordered them to keep up, they tried and tried, but very few could manage what she could, not at this point. At last the final peasant dropped as the strength of his arms failed him. When she saw the last man fall, she popped her legs forward under her and stood up with a small jump as if the whole thing had been nothing.

She pointed to the last one to fall. "You, here, now!" She shouted and pointed in front of her. A big, burly looking man who looked quite surprised got to his feet and jogged over to her. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Jorni." He answered nervously.

"Where you from?" She asked.

"Ulhin Village." He said.

"What were you?" She asked.

"Blacksmith." He said.

She looked him over, his hands and arms had burn scars over them, the fingers were calloused where a hammer would go, he had no beard, but his face had marks where sparks had hit it many times, he had firm blue eyes and his arms were as thick as the branches of a very long lived tree.

"Jorni, you're now in charge of these recruits, you're the strongest of them, and now you're in charge until either you die or I find out you're worth less than shit in a well bucket."

"Anyone have a problem with that?!" She snapped.

Nobody spoke up.

"Then on your feet, get ready to run!" She shouted. She had the peasants form up in a column five men wide, then she took two slender people wearing yellow shirts, poured some of her water on the ground to make mud, stirred it up, and then smeared it over the center of their shirts in a circle pattern.

"You two look fast, go to the back. Anyone falls out, runs with you, take your time, but keep everyone together." She said, and she saw understanding dawn on their faces.

"Everybody runs till nobody can!" She shouted, "We're going to circle this camp until that happens, anyone caught slacking had better be faster than a goddamn arrow after all the rest they got slacking off. When you can't keep up with this, fall into the back with the two men in yellow with the mud on their shirts. Now HAUL ASS!" She snapped, and began to run.

"Jorni, stay with me!" She snapped, and he fell in beside her. The first man fell out after a few minutes, and then it kept happening, however there were some runners among the group, and it took an hour before half the formation had fallen in with the yellow shirts. Yuri grinned as she watched more and more began to fall out, they were hurting, and she was enjoying every moment of it.

 _...Days later..._

The scouts returned from Yanana and reported to Yuri as she was working with the recruits again, they were a stronger, leaner group now, their heads were shaved bald and many of them now had armor, the latest shipment from their Theocracy supporters and other figures who were opposed to the growing influence of the Sorcerer King's supporters. The formation was looking much, much better, and Jorni was shaping up just fine as a company leader, he genuinely seemed to care about his soldiers, he knew many by first name already, and he took to his training with zeal.

In her own mind, Yuri couldn't help but snear, such care was secondary to her sadistic mind, it was just a useful tool to bring people to the fighting she loved, though she did admit privately that he was surprisingly good at it, and she distanced herself more from the training, arriving only to introduce something new, such as holding weapons out at chest level to get them used to the weight, or teaching simple moves with wooden weapons to use on straw and wooden figures, and it was because she could rely on Jorni that the arrival of the scouts allowed her to hand the training off to him while she took them directly to Remedios.

Remedios was in her tent staring at her sword with empty eyes, the soft sound of the flap of her tent opening stirred her from her thoughtless gaze and she glanced to see who had come in.

"What is it?" She said with disinterest.

"A report from Yanana." Yuri said, and Remedios perked up.

"Well, out with it." She said.

"Commander Remedios, while in Yanana, Neia Baraja attacked the institutions of the temples, she attacked their integrity, their practices, their worth, she attacked the city as indifferent to the sufferings of the people, and attacked their justice system as unjust. She was then arrested..."

Remedios's eyes lit up like stars, "Has she been imprisoned? Killed maybe?"

The scout shook his head. "She was taken for trial, found guilty, and sentenced to be whipped."

Remedios grinned like a child that was just given a sweet treat. "How much did she scream?"

"None. The whips could not touch her, it was as if the gods themselves protected her, though they lashed out to strike, they simply fell apart, they added more men, but no whip could land a blow, and eventually a part of the whip went wild and struck one of the judges."

Remedios howled with anger, stood, approached the table between herself and the scouts, and slammed her fist down hard enough to break off a hunk of the thick wood. "Not even a MARK?!" She snapped.

The scouts trembled, but the leader shook his head.

"We started following her after that, but we had to withdraw before we were exposed, we think she detected at least one of us when we got to close." He said.

"You didn't try to take her life?" Remedios asked dangerously.

The scout shook his head. "Her bodyguard was with her, we didn't have a chance of that. However," he said as he hurried to the next part of the report, we did note that she made a friendly connection with someone in the city and we tracked him to his new location, he lives in Wenmark, where she went, and we can get to him." They said.

"I see." Remedios said as a serene expression crossed her face. "My Queen will always know best." She whispered softly as understanding began to dawn. "Find out everything you can about him." She said. "Anything else you can tell me about what happened there?"

The leader nodded, "Her people are very skillful, they were fighting upper to mid ranked adventurers there on equal terms, roughly platinum level, but there are not very many of them." He said.

That last part did not please Remedios, but she nodded along, "Is that all?"

"It is, Commander." He said.

"Then get to Wenmark and find out everything you can about that friendly connection." She said, "I have a use for him."

"Yuri, I want five thousand good soldiers ready to go at a moment's notice." Remedios said sharply. Yuri's eyes went wide. "How soon?" She asked.

"Not long, but they need horses, bows, and a merciless attitude towards...well anything we point at and say 'kill it'.

Yuri could not suppress her sadistic smile. "It will be done." She said.

 **AN: Well I hope you enjoyed today's installment, there is much much more to do, but I'll be picking beta readers soon, however the beta reading will begin with the 'older' chapters first, I'll start refining those as I write new chapters and I'll slow down my releases while I tweak things from earlier in my work. Soooo...beta readers will get a first look at stuff a fair way in before the rest do. I may have one or two more chapters out before I get to that point, so enjoy the rapid release for the moment. :) Also, if I don't get reviews I'll starve and that'll slow me down more! Hint hint! ;) Thanks for reading, and have an Ainztastic week!**


	7. Blurring Lines

Jorni proved to be an apt pupil, unsurprisingly given his profession, he chose a hammer as his weapon of choice, and his prodigious strength sent beefy young farmers flying. As Yuri and Remedios noticed, he wasn't just another meat head, he took the time to check on his people, ensuring that they remained fit for duty and frankly acting like a father figure to some of the younger and more headstrong peasants.

"You're not running far on busted feet lass." Jorni said, kneeling in front of a girl who couldn't be more than seventeen, she was a slender, spirited girl of blue eyes and brown hair, and she'd pushed herself hard for the last few days of running. It was after the last run that Jorni noticed her limping in pain and had her sit on the grass and remove her boots, he approached and took a knee and lifted her foot. "You've got to wrap your feet or your foot will suffer for it, and change your wrappings after every run. Do you want your feet to rot off? Do you plan to hobble sword in hand at the heretic scum?" He asked in a fatherly tone, it got to the young girl and she looked down like a child who had been caught stealing a cookie, and she shook her head.

"No..." She replied.

"No is right. Now go get healed up for now, and skip the evening run, you can train tomorrow BUT I expect to see your replacement wraps before you fall in. If you don't have them with you, you don't run unless they're tied to your wrists. Understood?" Jorni said gruffly, and she nodded in reply, a blush at the notion of the embarrassment of having to run with replacement foot wraps tied to her, standing out so absurdly, was most likely enough to ensure her compliance.

He fell the rest of the formation in. "Everybody check each other's feet, you march on those, so you need to keep them ready for action, you won't be a very intimidating site if you're hobbling along like a goddamn cripple towards Black Justice lines, you want to give them enough time to hold a tea party before you reach them?" He shouted loudly, and his unit laughed in return, but more than a few looked a little embarrassed.

"Thought not, get to it and then go eat." He said, and then turned and walked away from the formation over to where Yuri and Remedios were watching.

"Good work." Remedios said bluntly.

"Thanks." He said, "It has to be, if we want to restore our country, we have to make sure we're strong enough to wade through however much blood and shit and muck the heretics put in our way in order to get there. Can't get stronger when you're broken." He said with equal bluntness.

"Can't argue with that." Yuri replied, "But we have another problem."

"What else is new?" Remedios asked, as long as the heretics are around, we'll continue to have problems."

"No, I mean we have an entirely new problem." Yuri said, and that prompted silent stares.

"Prart AND the Capitol have become hotbeds of heretic activity, its radiated out all over the place, and we still haven't heard anything back from the last city to be...infested in a mass, the forces you dispatched to Kedyn haven't come back and haven't sent any word." Yuri answered.

"Those are not new problems." Remedios said flatly.

"No, the new problem is that the people we have sent out to check on things have been sending reports of men in red armor escorting priests wearing chains on their wrists..." Yuri began, but Remedios interrupted.

"Prisoners? Are they priests of ours who have been captured?" She said with alarm, but froze when Yuri shook her head.

"No, these are a specialized branch of Black Justice priests and...paladins." Yuri said the last word like she was spitting out rotten food.

"Paladins...what do you mean...paladins?" Remedios asked, her voice turning almost feral.

"They're the Black Justice answer to our paladins, they call on holy...sort of...power. They appear to be made up of former members of the Paladin Order you commanded." She said as she pulled out a document and began to read it off.

"From what one scout reported who chose to interact passively for information purposes..." Yuri's voice began to get soft and melodic, a sure way she'd learned to keep Remedios from completely losing her temper in the moment and hearing everything before acting, sometimes she wondered if the voice calmed the woman, or just made it so she had to keep cool to hear everything.

"...After the debacle in the capitol and your attempt at killing so many humans, a number of paladins who had not been with you grew disillusioned with the order, and after your escape, they chose to abandon it entirely, this was not the start of these 'Red Paladins' though, that didn't happen until after the fall of Prart, after a number of paladins were captured who had been in collusion with the priests who were abusing the population...who were in turn working with the governor who was also stealing the relief aid provided by Ainz Ooal Gown and 'selling' the reconstruction work to his cronies and other criminal enterprises..."

"Skip it." Remedios snapped, and Yuri flipped through a few pages.

"...Anyway after Neia Baraja took over the city after starting a riot and using her elite teams to crush organized resistance, there was a series of impromptu trials where the sins of the priests and guards were laid bare, a number of more honest paladins who had no idea just how bad things really were...culminating with a priest sexually abusing a woman and letting her child die...supposedly, the paladins who survived and were captured were struck with a crisis of conscience. They felt they could no longer serve as they had, so Neia had them taken under her wing and began a new order. The remorseful younger priests, some of them, switched sides and chose to follow Neia's new beliefs. They wear chains on their wrists to mark the penitent time of service and they travel the country to spread their beliefs, these 'Red Paladins' are their escorts, and they also escort travelers and other pilgrims."

Jorni frowned. "That must make spreading their dark heresy easier...plus...how do we catch them?"

Remedios looked at him, "What?"

"How do we catch them?" He asked again. "I mean, they're not all in one place, they're moving around a lot, so...how do you catch em, are you just going to wander the roads and hope ya find one?" Jorni laughed at his faux suggestion.

Remedios looked puzzled, trying to work out a solution.

Yuri flipped to another page of her documents. "They work out of the Black Justice temples, that means they probably have specific routes, we can get a copy of that information and then we can start ambushing them."

"They won't catch on?" Jorni asked, his face holding a dubious expression.

Remedios gave it a shrug, "Maybe, eventually. But we're already able to make people disappear here when we need to, and it's taken weeks or more to make some people cautious. That should be plenty of time." She said matter of factly. "Jorni I want you to gether a few people, the light footed sort, and I want you to break into the nearest temple of Black Justice you can find, try to get a set of routes for where they're going and when."

"I can be gone today." He said firmly.

"Then get to it." Yuri said, and Jorni moved off to the supply quarters to draw what he needed.

Yuri watched as he left, and when he was out of hearing range, she gestured back in the direction of Remedios's private tent. "You're not sleeping well." Yuri said, and Remedios looked at her in surprise.

"I'm not stupid you know." Yuri said flatly. "I know what tired looks like."

Remedios might not have been the brightest fire, but she understood that much quite easily and she let out a frustrated sigh.

"There are only two ways for me to sleep." She said, her eyes scanning around her to ensure they were not overheard. Yuri waited, a rare moment of idle curiosity flitted through her sadistic mind, but Remedios said nothing more, she only kept walking her usual route to her tent. Yuri followed, unwilling to say anything and risk putting off the subject from her dim witted but powerful commander.

When the tent flap opened as they arrived and Remedios allowed Yuri entry, she went and sat down at the table. She gestured for Yuri to be seated, and Yuri raised her eyebrow, intrigued by the odd behavior. Still, odd or not, she followed directions and took the seat being offered. When she was in place she still remained silent and waited on Remedios.

The woman looked down, her expression was...for lack of a better word...troubled. "I cannot sleep, or rather, I rarely do for long, most of those times I am plagued by terrible nightmares." Her voice was soft, not something Yuri was used to, she wasn't sure what to say.

"There are two times that I can sleep and do so well however, two things that happen, and if neither does, then sleep will either be absent entirely or will be at least absent comforting rest." She continued.

"What are those?" Yuri asked tentatively, leaning in and folding her arms on the table, one hand atop the other.

"The first is when fire happens...but not just any fire. It has to be a heretic's body inside it, all our captives, the ones we take that are clear heretics, only the light of fire driving the dark heresy from these heteromorphic nightmare things will do, it comforts me. I think...sometimes I think it shouldn't. Something about this feels wrong to me. But..." Her face lept up to being level with Yuri's own gaze, and her normally cold eyes burned with fury, "I'm not wrong! I'm NOT! They're wrong, THEY ARE WRONG!" She shouted the last sentence and slammed her fist down on the table, breaking part of it away from the whole. "They're not humans! So its not wrong to burn them! They're traitors and demihumans and heteromorphs in their souls, killing them is my DUTY!"

Yuri stayed quiet, her eyes were wide and seemed intent, perhaps it could be confused with caring, but the truth was...this was exciting, it was thrilling in ways that drove the sadistic woman wild, she didn't need to ask for more, Remedios was cutting loose.

"So I burn their bodies and sleep oh so well...and I have to blame the cursed undead for how I feel, he probably cast some sort of dark spell to make me have those doubts, but it won't work...IT WON'T!" She snapped.

"The other thing that lets me sleep is...when the queen talks to me." She said.

Yuri's expression became confused. "The Queen...as in Queen Calca?" She asked incredulously.

Remedios didn't answer, which was answer enough.

"How?" Yuri asked flatly, her expression turning from incredulous to one of concern as Remedios took out her sword and laid it down on the table between them.

"Through this." She said. "I see her face in the blade sometimes, she talks to me, she tells me things. The Slane Theocracy agents thought they told me about the heretics being spiritual heteromorphs..." She stopped speaking briefly and her head flew back and she cackled madly for what seemed like minutes before her head snapped back down and her mad eyes held Yuri's shocked ones fast, there was no looking away. "But they, they didn't. She did." Remedios caressed the sword as one might a lover, it cut her finger, but while Yuri noticed, Remedios did not. "She told me that allies would come to me, that they would tell me about the spiritual heteromorphism that plagued the heretics, that was how I knew them to be useful to me, that they would help me to restore this kingdom. She's the one who told me that the burnings would help, she's the one who told me how to attack the villages. See, if I kill everyone in the way...the gods will know their own, its not a sacrifice, its a blessing of the gods..." She leaned back in her chair as her arms went wide apart as to embrace the world, her expression was blissful, it reminded Yuri of the last lover she'd had herself, a man as warped as she knew herself to be, they'd parted ways intending to reunite, only for him to die before then. But he had the same expression on his face when wreaking havoc as he did after they'd lain together, and now Remedios wore the same mask, but tinted with a shade of utter madness hiding behind it.

Remedios continued on, "When she speaks to me, on those days she does, I can sleep, its mostly dreamless, but sometimes, when I dream, I see the shining Kingdom of her majesty as she dreamed it could be. As it might nearly be now, were it not for Jaldabaoth, and for the Sorcerer King's heresy." Her voice turned savage, spittle flew from her mouth, exhaustion tainted her eyes and exacerbated her mad expression.

Yuri reached out and touched Remedios's hand on the sword. "When was the last time she spoke?" Yuri was no fool, she knew she had to defuse this quickly.

"Days ago." Remedios replied, "I've been taking potions to force myself to sleep, or to keep the look of sleeplessness away and able to function, but with no new burnings and no new visits, I don't know what to do. We haven't captured any new heretics on the road..."

"So take them from elsewhere." Yuri said as if it were obvious, but Remedios looked surprised and confused.

Yuri chose to elaborate. "We know that the tendrils of heresy are spreading, there are not many in the South, but the fact that we take any on the roads at all, means that they are present, so we find them and take them from the villages. Reach out to the Slane Theocracy agents, ask for their help, when a heretic is identified, we steal them in the night, return them here, and ensure you get your sleep."

Remedios's eyes looked bright at the prospect. "I'll reach out to them immediately. Thank you Yuri."

Yuri stood up and a surprised expression came over her face, Remedios was not a woman prone to gratitude, things must have been truly terrible for her. Yuri put on her best and sweetest phony smile. "Of course Commander Remedios, we need you at your best if we're going to succeed." She said and walked out, leaving Remedios the mad to her own company.

Jorni was true to his word in gathering people, he was quick and efficient, he had his people ready to go faster than most people finished a meal, they were ready and waiting when Yuri revisited the training grounds. She looked them over, they were a rather...rag tag lot, but fit looking even if they were mismatched in dress and appearance.

"Do they know the task?" She asked Jorni.

"No, I left that for you. I only gathered those I thought best for it." He replied politely.

"Alright, here's the task, its one of a series like it, the first thing you're going to do is find a Black Justice temple, you're going to wait until it is nearly empty, and then you're going to break in and search the administrative area for a schedule. Something that will tell us the routes of Black Justice priests, Red Paladins, anything of value. I don't care how you do it, but do not get caught. These are undead worshippers, their founder cut the cock off a priest in Prart, you do NOT want to get caught, take your own life if you have to, they will show you know mercy."

There were four men including Jorni, and they winced involuntarily at hearing the priest's fate, and grim faces met Yuri's eyes. "We won't fail you." Jorni said firmly.

"Good." She replied, "Take whatever food supplies you'll need, your best bet is a town just a short way over the border, we have friendly agents there, but there are also Black Justice members in some numbers, a minority yes, but enough for them to have a small temple by now, if they don't have one, the easiest bet is Prart or the towns that are beyond it. Kedyn is probably burning by now so I wouldn't waste time there, but wherever you go, remember what I said, unless you like to suffer...do not...get...caught." Yuri said firmly.

The seven person team shared a look of acceptance, there was no need for spoken words, each silent gaze told the other that they would not allow any of them to fall in to the enemy's hands. Yuri however, did not understand this kind of communication, that connection of shared danger. To her sadistic mind it appeared they shared a moment of fear, rather than resolve, and she walked away to avoid giving them a chance to beg off the task.

So it was with some surprise that she didn't hear anyone coming after her to speak further, instead she saw them moving off, they moved smoothly through the familiar camp, pausing only briefly to fill a few packs with food supplies, and they were clearly going to leave the area for their assignment. Yuri shrugged it off, as long as they went, that was what mattered, she didn't think to reflect on how she had come to misunderstand them, but rather went about the rest of her day as if that had not happened.

Jorni felt the resolve to win or die course through his veins as they moved out of the camp, his body almost shook with excitement, and in a moment of thought he wondered what his life would have been had he pursued a military life or the life of an adventurer instead of the life of a blacksmith in his village. There was no real point in such contemplation, its not as if the choices could be taken up again and done differently, so as they moved away from the camp he put the thoughts from his head and focused on the mission itself.

The road was clear when they reached the edge of the forest several hours later, the sky overhead was blue and beautiful, puffy white clouds floated overhead, and Jorni reveled in the cool spring breeze that was blowing over his skin, at his insistence, they moved to walk on the road itself. Yorna, a young woman with slender arms and sylvan figure, but with hawkish eyes, objected. "We'll be seen." She said.

"Aye we will be, but that's the point." Jorni said patiently. "If we're seen openly we won't be suspicious, if we're seen skulking along the road, we'll look suspicious, we might even be reported as possible bandits, and wouldn't that be a kick in the teeth? I don't want a village militia chasing us from here to the gods be damned border. Do you?" He asked with a pointed tone and expression, and her mouth closed with a snap, he had a good answer and she knew it.

"I still don't like it." Yorna replied.

"You don't have to like it, neither do I, we just have to do it. There will be plenty of time for hiding, for now just keep moving, as far as anyone knows, we're just a group of displaced peasants moving on to find new homes and who are armed well enough to protect ourselves." Jorni said casually.

Iaril, a young man of chiseled jaw and broad stature shrugged the matter off. "I can't say as I like it either, but we can always camp off road at night, and as well armed as we are, bandits will probably ignore us, and if they don't...well we might not be elites, but we're not cowards." He said and hefted his mace for emphasis.

"That's a good man." Jorni said and clapped him on the shoulder.

They went to the road and proceeded on their journey, most people think of such journeys in one of two ways, either continuously being pleasant excursions...or the opposite, constantly wearying, monotonous, and exhausting. However the truth was...it could be both. Freshly starting out on such a walk meant enjoying the warm shining sun, the spectacular vistas of the natural world, the feel of soft earth and the jovial company of comrades in arms. But as hours would wear on, the soft earth began to feel hard on the feet, aches would form in even the most well trained body, strong thighs would rub together and gradually feel raw from the constant motion of one foot being put in front of the other, and the endless glorious view became...just an endless line of the march that seemed to draw the journey out forever. Breaks became a blessed reprieve, and the team was fortunate that Jorni had learned his lessons about proper foot care, regularly requiring that the team stop and change out the covers of their feet and air out their boots. Conversation waned over time, though Jorni did his best to keep spirits up, these were people who had never before traveled beyond twenty miles from the site of their birth until joining the forces of Remedios, they were not prepared for this on a mental level in spite of their general fitness.

When Jorni finally called for a halt that evening, they were quite worn out, they moved somewhat off the road and a ways into the woods for security reasons and quickly established an encampment, the prospect of their bedrolls was just too appealing. So in short order wood for the fire was gathered, tents were pitched, a firepit was dug and a stew was being prepared. Soon they were sitting around the fire, and the prospect of rest and a hot meal made them amenable to conversation.

"So, what brought you to Remedios's army?" Jorni asked the man to his right, a younger man named Orpheil, barely out of his teens, he had a baby face that made him looks years younger than he actually was, with gangely limbs and long legs, he looked...rather silly really, but Jorni had seen the boyish man with a bow, and he had a hunter's eyes when he drew.

Orpheil was stirring the stew pot and said, "I was raised under the old gods, I don't need any new ones, and if the new one is undead, well how much worse is that? The gods worked for humanity, its time we worked for the gods." He said, and Jorni saw the young man mutter an inaudible prayer.

"What about you?" Jorni asked Katola, a young woman with a gentle expression and wide doe eyes that made her appear incredibly innocent, with a small chest and long coltish legs, she appeared younger than she was as well. Jorni had chosen her because she could move silently and she had a natural talent for seeing in the darkness.

Her eyes turned to him and reflected a haunted expression as the fires danced in her pupils. "I grew up in the Slane Theocracy, my father died by an undead," she said softly, a lich took him from us when I was very young. I stayed there long enough to see the lich dead, a group of theocracy scriptures came and did that for us, probably saved our village. I don't remember much of village life from back then, virtually nothing of the life I had there, just my father's face, and my mother telling me he wasn't coming home. We left after that, she couldn't stay there after that, she took us to Wenmark at first, but there was just no work to be had there, the elf criminals did it all really, so she took me to a village and used some of the remaining coin we got from selling our home, bought a small farm...and that was that...now here I am, because I'll die before I worship the same sort of thing that killed my father. I guess you could say my one goal in life is to make sure that no unlife ever threatens anyone again." She said softly.

Her expression turned from haunted to mournful, prompting Iaril to pipe up, "Well that's good, its important to never let go of your ghouls."

It took a moment to realize from his shit eating grin that he had not in fact said 'goals' and then another moment to recognize the pun, prompting a groan to emerge from the lot of them at the terrible joke. "What?" Iaril replied, "Don't you know what an 'undertaking' it is to bring good 'spirits' to this kind of thing?" He grinned again at the additional puns, prompting six hands to slap six faces, before Kotala burst out laughing at the godawful puns.

"That's the spirit!" Iaril said, prompting her to put a spoon into the stew, draw it back, and launch it at his face like a catapult. He laughed and wiped it off saying, "Alright, I'll bury the puns for now." He put another satisfied grin on hiss face, and the mood around the fire perked up.

Jorni chose to end the questions for the evening, resigning himself to asking for more tomorrow, as the stew was nearing readiness, they ate in relative quiet as Jorni gave them the watch schedule for the night, and then one by one they finished their food and turned in for the night. Jorni stayed up, taking first watch, minding the fire and trying not to be anxious about the mission ahead of him. It was no easy thing that was being asked of his people or himself, but success would give them some small advantage in reducing the threat posed by the servants of the undead.

He spent a fair part of the evening just gazing at the stars, bathing in the moonlight and occasionally poking at the fire to keep it going, until Orpheil got up out of his bedroll, walked across from Jorni, and took his seat. "My watch boss, go get some sleep." He said, and Jorni got up from his seat with a tired wave.

"See you in the morning." Jorni said and crawled into the tent, he was worn out, he fell asleep almost as soon as he was on his back.

 **AN: I know, you're impatient for more, well you'll just have to BE patient. :) Believe me it will not be long. Hope you liked the puns. And of course, reviews are welcome.**


	8. Intel

When morning came Jorni's eyes snapped open as if he had never slept, he got out of his tent and hopped up with vigor. Yorna was on shift and was the first to greet him, she for her part had not been idle, she prepared a meal to start off the day...stew...but food was food. One by one the others arose and left their tents, but Yorna took no further notice, she simply ladled the food into bowls and set them where people would be seated, then took one for herself. "Thanks for starting the food for us Yorna, you didn't have to do that." Jorni said.

"No trouble at all." She said in her serious monotone, "I was already up, so why not?" Jorni took his place next to her with a hungry smile, licked his lips ravenously, and dug in, the others likewise took their places, dug in...and with the exception of Paderas...spat the foot out and retched.

"By the gods what did you DO to that stew?!" Rika asked in horror as she continued spitting it out.

"What?" Yorna asked, "I just added some milk, chili powders, and some ygalian parsnip juice..." She went through her list of ingredients, ticking them off on her fingers. "It's fine, trust me." She said and took a spoonful...only to spit her own cooking out immediately. Meanwhile Paderas just kept chowing down as the rest of the group looked at him as if he'd transformed into a zombie.

"Gods be damned that is GOOD!" Paderas said enthusiastically.

"I suspect we have an undead among us folks." Iaril said dryly. "No living thing could eat THAT food and survive."

"What?" Paderas said, finishing off his bowl. with a flourish of his spoon. "Its good!"

The rest of them looked down at their bowls dubiously, then back up to him, then back down to their bowls, then back up to him, then to each other, and then as if they were of one mind they all held out their bowls as far from their bodies as they could, in his direction and said loudly, "You can have mine, I'm not hungry!"

Paderas ate quite well that morning, as far as he was concerned anyway, while as they cleared camp and prepared to move again, many were the jokes about having to carry him when he got sick, or making bets on when he would die and deciding that the closest one to the hour of his death would be able to skip the burial detail. He met all this with a role of his eyes as they walked along their route.

As they walked, Rika did something very unexpected...she started to sing.

"Oh how are you doin young soldier Alyd...Do yah mind if I siteer beside yer grave side...I've been walkin all day in the warm summer sun...Its been a long day an I'm nearly done...

Well I see by yer gravestone you were only nineteen, when you joined the brave fallen in 1916...well I hope you died quick, and I hope yah died clean, or poor young Alyd was it slow an obscene..."

She sang the slow ballad with skill that Jorni did not think could be matched, her lilting voice conveying the gentle tragic scene so well that it was as if it were right in front of him, then Orpheil showed that it could be matched, or rather...complemented.

"...Did they beat the drums slowly did they sound the pipes lowly...did the cheers sound o'er you as they lowered you down..." Orpheil's deep baritone paired flawlessly with Rika's voice, and the whole world vanished as the ballad created a new world behind their eyes and they felt the loss of a man they never knew, who may never have lived at all except in that song. It was moving enough that Jorni had to wipe his eyes away as the last notes faded.

"That's my sister for you." Iaril said with pride, "She could sing the dead back to their graves if they had hearts at all to be moved."

Paderas looked on enviously at Orpheil as he and Rika finished their song. "You're both very good." He said.

"And you're very observant." Orpheil said with a somewhat self satisfied grin that might have been insulting from anyone else, as it was, it was good natured enough that Paderas chuckled at the unusual answer.

Their day passed smoothly as the first until they made camp. Once again they found themselves round the camp fire and Jorni chose to get to know his team a little better.

"So what brought you on board Yorna?" Jorni asked as he laid out the last of the wood nearby and sat himself down. She leaned back on her hands and craned her neck upwards, her usually serious face turned almost whimsical. "I really don't know. I realize that sounds strange, but it just seemed like this was the place I should be, a world for humans is the only place humans can really be safe I guess, and you can't get that without working or it, and my dad well...he always said if you want something, work for it. So here I am. I've heard the stories about what happened in the North, I think we all have, but the way I see it, that undead king can't possibly rule humans well forever, he'll turn on us, the only way humans to really be safe is if we rule ourselves, I wish it didn't have to be this way, but I don't think his followers will stop pressing everywhere unless we put them down, and then he won't stop unless we put him down. So...here I am. Not the answer you might have expected, but I guess that's why I look so damn serious all the time, to me this is just work I have to do to get what I want, and its dirty and unpleasant work."

"There are worse things I suppose." Katola said as she cut up potatos into a pot.

"Yeah, I mean all anyone can ask to be is on the right side of things, and you've got that much going for you." Paderas said with a smile that showcased his missing teeth.

Jorni shrugged, "I suppose that is a way to see it. What about you Paderas?"

The frankly ugly looking fellow gave a gap toothed grin as he handed a bowl of cut up meat to Katola, who promptly put it into the pot. "Me its easy, no grand revenge, no drive for a better world for humans, I'm just a battle maniac, grew up fighting, first man I ever knocked out was my father, the guy who gave me this winning smile." He pointed to his missing teeth in a grin. "He was also the first man I killed, he was slime, knew I fancied a girl, so he seduced her and laughed about it to me, you'd think he'da learned not to push me after I knocked him out, after all, I was finally bigger and stronger than he was and didn't have to put up with his shit anymore, so I wrestled him to the ground and cut him apart, never felt so good in all my life. Had to leave after that, drifted around with some mercenaries, served a few nobles, worked as a head knocker in a few taverns, ended up in the North during Jaldabaoth's invasion."

"How the hell did you survive?" Rika said with awe.

Paderas gave her his 'winning smile' and said, "I'm a right charming fellow when I want to be, and I used my knives to charm my way through a few demihumans, my unit had some good scouts and we avoided fights we couldn't win, ambushed small numbers to winnow down their numbers. The way I see it, all I'm good for anymore is fighting because its all I've ever done, so the only question is...who is going to give me a chance to fight, and who'll let me rest easy when its over, can't trust demihumans or undead at my back, and Remedios and her like are going to let me fight too, so...here I am." He said and drew out his knives and began to juggle them, they watched impressed, forgetting the food for a moment as he tossed them up and down and hand to hand for several minutes before he snapped them up and threw them hard into a nearby log, sticking them both within inches of each other.

"That don't really prepare me for farming life you know." He said with a grim and self deprecating chuckle.

"No, no I don't guess that would." Yorna said.

"Aye, I definitely get the 'point'." Iaril said, prompting a rolling of everyone's eyes at his pun. Iaril himself seem more amused by their reaction to the pun, than he was by the pun itself, and it drew a laugh from him that Jorni interrupted.

"So what about you two?" Jorni said to Rika & Iaril, "You're siblings aren't you?"

They nodded. "Yes, he's my idiot older brother." Rika said with a roll of her eyes.

"And she's my hopeless little sister." Iaril said in an exaggerated voice and a matching roll of his eyes in the opposite direction as Kotala began stirring the pot and putting spices in for flavor.

"Well we used to live just over the border with the Northern Kingdom, then some undead worshipers bought land, they started using undead labor, they didn't worship with the rest of us, they used time normally spent farming, learning how to fight, they didn't have a regular priest or anything, but one did come by every now and then, and after one of his visits, someone disappeared, a child, no more than seven years old." Iaril's eyes looked haunted, I was the one who found his body, I brought him home to his parents, the wails they let out still keep me up at night. Our priest told us that he was taken by the undead worshipers for sacrifice, that was why their priest had come to the village, he's our priest, responsible for giving us the truth of the gods, he'd never lie to us, and we drove out the undead servants, we smashed their skeletons and burned their homes in the middle of the night, they escaped unfortunately, someone must have warned them, because we didn't find their bodies in their homes and we didn't see anyone try to get out. But after they were gone the priest told us about people gathering to fight back, to drive out these heteromorphic humans, and we knew what we had to do."

Rika reached out and took his hand. "And where my brother goes, so I go, so we went South, we'll go back North again soon enough, and make everything as it was. Any religion that would sacrifice children...has to be stopped, and if we have to fight or even die to put it down, we will." She said firmly and resolutely. "...Even if I have to put up with my impossible brother along the way." She gave Iaril a smirk, and he rolled his eyes and gave an exaggerated and long suffering sigh.

"Do you all see what I have to put up with?" He said with a grin on his face, the tension passed as if it never was, and Rika took up another song, her soft and lilting voice lit the forest, and she was joined again by Orpheil's deep baritone voice...

 _"Thaaa Minstrel Boy to the war is gone, in the ranks of death you will fiiiind him, his father's sword he has gird it on, his wild harp slung behiiiind him. Laaand of song cried the warrior bard! Lo all tha world betraaay thee, oooone sword at least thy rights shall guard...one faiithful harp shall praiiiise thee..."_

For moment after timeless moment, the camp was silent but for the pairing of lyrical brilliance from peasant lips, and Yorna stood spellbound over the pot as she stirred it mindlessly, adding spices to the pot as she got lost in the music like the rest of them.

 _"...The minstrel fell but the foeman's steel could not bring, his proud souuul uuuunder, the harp he'd loved ne'er spoke a'gain, for he'd torn its chords asuuuunder, and said no chains shall sully thee, the soul of love and bravery, they songs were made for the pure and free, they shall ne'er sound in sla'very!"_

As the pair finished their duet, their comrades clapped enthusiastically and Yorna began to ladle food into bowls, which she then distributed to the rest of them.

When they realized it was Yorna handing it out, they gave their bowls a suspicious look. "Is this...safe?" Katola asked.

Jorni shrugged, "Well if you're lucky, you only live once, so I say try it." Yorna gave them both dirty looks, but as one they plunged spoons into their bowls and then plunged the fine looking stew into their mouths...and except for Paderas...promptly spat it out. "Hot! So HOT!" Iaril shouted and reached for water which he promptly began to chug.

Rika could only breath like she was trying to spit fire, and Yorna said..."I don't understand it, I just added a little spice during your song..."

"The entire song?!" Jorni asked as he slapped at his tongue as if to scrape the heat off.

Yorna blushed..."Oh...I guess I got caught up in the music..."

Paderas for his part, seemed not to mind in the least. "Tastes great to me!" He said with a grin, and found himself being presented with six more bowls as the others reached for their trail rations.

"I swear you'll be the death of me with cooking like that." Orpheil said as he swished the water around in his mouth and spat it out.

"Well that would be a very grave matter." Iaril said with a smug grin that he had worked yet another pun in, again to a very loud set of face palms in response.

"I've been thinking about how to get what we're after." Jorni said patiently as things settled down. "We can't just break in, we can't risk storming the place, we don't have enough people for that. But what we can do is offer a distraction. I think we all know that village life can get pretty damn dull, so I say we play to that, we create a distraction that keeps the people occupied, and then a few of us sneak in and get what we need and get out."

"What kind of distraction?" Yorna asked curiously.

"Entertainment." Jorni said. "We have our fabulous duet here bill themselves as traveling musicians, and they put on a performance in the early evening, and while they're keeping everybody's eyes on them, the rest of us break into the temple, find what we need, and get the hell out."

"Problem." Kotala said flatly. "They'll know its missing, and they'll definitely adapt by changing the schedules. They might even figure out we did it, though depending on how often they go through those, they might not, too."

Jorni lowered his head in thought. "Well what if we take it while leaving it behind?" He asked.

"What?" His team asked in unison.

"We make a copy of it on the spot." He replied, "We find it, copy it, and put it right back. All you have to do is sing for ten to fifteen minutes, just enough time for us to write it down for ourselves and get out after we find it."

"I can't read, can any of you?" Paderas asked dubiously.

"I learned a little." Kotala said.

"I can." Jorni said, "I was a blacksmith, the only one for my village, so I had to deal with numbers and written orders, so my village paid for me to learn so that we'd have materials to sell to other villages and I could place orders and so on with other merchants for new materials. I'm no scholar, but I can read and write a schedule, plus once I find it, all you have to do is be able to copy it, it doesn't matter if you can read it or not. It won't take long, trust me." He said confidently.

Eventually they turned in one after the other after setting another watch schedule, and the night went on uneventfully. The next few days were much like that, they would walk all day, camp at night, tell jokes, sing, trade stories of their upbringing, occasionally put up with Yorna trying and failing to improve a dish, and always putting up with Iaril's horrid puns, tired from their journey but enjoying common company, until they crossed the border and found themselves at a village, it took little effort to learn that there was indeed a Black Justice enclave there, and much to their pleasure, there was a small temple.

Jorni quickly put it about that there was a marvelous pair of singers ready to perform for the village, and they spent the afternoon learning the layout of the place, it was a simple place, rather haphazard, but the Black Justice area was obviously newer and their numbers not yet large, there was a small temple painted black set on the outskirts of the village, and Katola went in to explore the place, she used her particular skills at steal look for ideal points of entry and exit, but she did not risk early entry into the inner office, so after a brief exploration memorizing the general layout, which was little more than a handful of pews, an alter behind a podium and some decorative art on the walls, with a half wall behind the alter, with the door to the inner office closed off behind the half wall. It was a simple, functional layout that split the administration off from the public area while still making it easy to go from one to the other.

It was information enough. The team spent the day wandering the village to learn where everything was, and gathered information about the routine through casual conversation, learning that services for Black Justice usually took place in the early evening, it was knowledge enough, and when they reconvened privately they shared their knowledge and laid out their plans.

When the sun began to set and the evening came on, Orpheil and Rika took up a position at the center of the village, while Paderas called out enticements for people to hear them sing, and carried a small sack to collect coins from the crowd as the pair did so. Orpheil and Rika gave each other satisfied grins, they did love to sing, and this was something they were only to glad to do in the line of duty. Kotala took up a position that allowed her maximum view of the village with minimal visibility on herself, and when she was sure that most, if not all, were gathered, she waved Jorni on, and he darted out from behind the building, keeping as many buildings between himself and the crowd as he could, until Kotala lead him in through the front door of the temple and all the way to the back. It was dark, but Kotala's talent was night vision, she could see as well as a demihuman, and she brought Jorni through the darkness to the door. He listened carefully for noise from within, the cloak of darkness meant there was probably nobody within, as a person there would probably keep the way out lit, but he was nothing if not cautious, and when he was sure there was nobody within, he opened the door.

For a moment he feared it might have a lock, but locks were complex to make and cost more, and an administrative office for a minor village temple was a low priority. Kotara stepped back and kept to the shadows but watched the door for any entries. She could hear the singing, and she was sure that Paderas was keeping an eye on the crowd from the singers view, and that Iaril would mind the back and rush to warn her if anyone broke away to come to the temple...but nobody did.

She listened as behind her the shuffling of papers took place by candle light, until she heard the hoarse whispering of Jorni within. "I found it, come here, I need help!" said, and he pulled out a pair of papers from his satchel, and he handed her one piece of the schedule while he took the other. "Write, quickly!" he said hurriedly and by the dim light they scribbled and scribbled, copying what they could, but to Kotala it didn't make sense.

She followed directions, but it didn't look like a schedule to her. "How do you know this is it? It all looks like a code?" She said as she copied the bizarre script.

"The format." Jorni said, "I've dealt with merchants before, when they travel a route, they use schedules like this, from what I've heard, these undead worshipers have heavily influenced merchants lately, so they've probably adopted the merchant's format in creating schedules, we can't read what it says, but we'll have it, I'll leave breaking the code to Commander Remedios, all we have to do is get it and get out, now HURRY!" He hissed out, his heart pounding as he imagined getting his cock cut off by some vengeful priest, and he held that horrible thought right up until he finished and scrawled the last of his page, just a few seconds before Kotala did hers.

He grabbed her page out of her hand and stuffed it with his quite unceremoniously back into his satchel, then he grabbed the originals and tried to place them as perfectly as he could back where he found them. They rushed out, he closed the door back behind him, and went out to the front of the temple again, and then they casually walked out chatting idly as if they'd not just done what they had done. The pair were on their fourth song, so it must have taken only a bit over ten minutes, but to them both it felt like it had taken ten hours. They wound their way casually behind homes until they came up behind the crowd and fell in with them as if the pair had been there the whole time.

Jorni raised his arms as if stretching, creating a V shape that was the predetermined signal for their singing team members, who finished their last song to thunderous applause. They bowed over and over, hamming up their performance and thanking the crowd for their attention. Gradually they wound their way back together after the crowd began to disperse.

"Good work?" Rika asked.

"Very." Jorni said as he nodded in affirmation.

"Stay the night?" Orpheil asked.

"I'd rather not, but whatever, they have a guest residence here for travelers." Paderas said with an indifferent shrug.

"What the hell is a 'guest residence'? Rika asked.

"Apparently its a Black Justice innovation, since they have all these people whose whole job it is to travel the roads and visit towns and villages, the temple used some of their income to build a single residence for those travelers, those use it for free, but others are allowed to rent it out if its not otherwise in use." Paderas said.

"I don't like it...but it would look suspicious if we didn't use that and instead chose to camp or to leave right away...so we'll do it, but put it about that we're going to leave before first light. We'll stay there for a few hours, get some sleep, and when everything is dead to the world, we'll take off and head back to camp in the woods as quickly as we can and as far away as we can." Jorni said with an uncomfortable expression. Rika handed him a few coins, and he went to the temple to make arrangements when the priest returned.

A short while later they were enjoying the comfort of four walls and a roof. The place was simple, comfortable, but with only a few amenities. A simple well sanded nightstand, table, a fireplace warmth and light, and several very small rooms clearly meant for only a single occupant with a bed, hook on the wall, and a door. The main room had a table and chairs for eating, and it was generally a clean and well maintained place. Not bad, not bad at all, and it cost only a silver for the lot of them.

Jorni still shuddered at his memory of the temple priest, the man had thick meaty hands and hard callouses in places that could only be built up by holding swords, and he had sharp eyes that made him appear rather fearsome, but his voice didn't match, he sounded almost grandfatherly and cheerful, it was quite the contradictory image. But that was done and it was time for some rest. They ate quickly and went immediately to bed after securing every door and window, they then lay themselves down and went immediately to sleep.

Within hours of their rest they were up, packed again, and taking off leaving the key hanging from the front door. They moved quietly out of the village until they were a distance away, and then they focused on speed, going as fast as they could for as far as they could, a routine that did not stop from one day to the next until one evening they came across somebody lying on his face outside the forest.

Jorni saw him first. "What the hell?" His eyes went wide and he stopped the party. The man wore tattered clothing that might have once been some kind of uniform, chainmail armor, and though he had no shield, he carried a sword that had obviously seen better days, the figure was largely emaciated and Jorni was not at first sure if the fellow was even alive.

"Stay here." He said to his team, and they took up defensive postures, drawing weapons but remaining back as Jorni moved slowly closer to the man who had clearly seen better days than this one. He took out his hammer as a precaution and came close to the man, who he could now must have been some kind of soldier not a mere bandit. As he turned the fellow over, he saw that it was a man in his early twenties at most, his unshaved face showed that he'd been out on his own for some time. He bore a number of small wounds, but nothing fatal. Jorni looked at the man's chest and saw the telltale rise and fall of breathing that indicated that this was not the man's hour of death. Now assured that the poor soul was alone, Jorni called his team closer to him, he called for water and bread, and he tried to wake the unconscious figure up, placing his arm under his back and raising him up almost like he were cradling a child.

Eyes fluttered slightly open, and then went wide with surprise and fear. "Who are you?" The injured figure said softly, he might have shouted it in fear if he'd been able, but his voice was cracked and broken as if he'd screamed so often that it had no power left to it. Jorni reached behind him and took the waterskin that Rika offered, and said, "Don't worry about that for now, take a drink first, you're more the worse for wear, but with some food, water, and rest, you'll be fine...I think. For now just know that you're safe."

Jorni, for all his fearsome look, could have a gentle voice like a kindly uncle, and it did the young man good to hear it, he drank greedily, choking some and spitting it up in a series of coughs as he tried to drink to much too fast.

When the coughing fit ended and he'd had his relative fill of water, Jorni handed back the skin of water and took some bread and offered it out to him as well. "Slowly, don't choke and don't waste it." Jorni said firmly, the somewhat chastened fellow accepted his advice, but finished the bread off quickly enough anyway. "Can you walk?" Jorni asked.

The man shook his head. "I don't think so, I've been running for I don't know how long, hiding, trying to get away, got lost in the woods, so did most of my brothers and sisters, I don't know if any of them made it out, it was a nightmare." As he spoke, his voice became distant and his eyes went wide again as if he were reliving the horror.

"Hey, stay with me now." Jorni said, and shook him gently, drawing the man back from his memory. Jorni looked more closely at the remnants of his clothing, it was familiar...as in found all over the place in the camp of Commander Remedios. Moreover, everybody knew about the expedition to Kedyn by this point...so he took the leap. "You were with the forces sent to Kedyn, weren't you?" Jorni asked.

The man began to look alarmed again, "Relax, we're with Remedios and the renegade paladin order, we were just returning from a mission of our own." Jorni said soothingly.

The battered man visibly relaxed. "I hope it went better than mine did." He shook his head. "It was a disaster. We kept the city on edge, we kept them fearful and worried, the place almost fell apart, only for us to be discovered by a team of adamantite adventurers, we tried to rally by taking the city, only for the siege to fail in DAYS...DAYS. Red paladins, loyalists to Gustav, a city militia, Black Justice, and the adamantite team...and magic the likes of which I'd never seen before...and that was that. We were routed, we ran into the woods, but they gave chase, they came after us hard, I don't know how many died, but they weren't going to let us go, they hunted us like animals, not just the Black Justice soldiers, the people of the city itself came after us, it was a city of hunters, and we'd become their prey. They tracked us like beasts, taunting us at times to keep going. Sometimes they'd let a group of us go...just to make sport of hunting us down a second time because 'We could have done better'. We went in all directions...I think, but if anyone other than me survived to this point, well I haven't seen them yet." His voice had become strained and the pent up emotion built up within and gushed out in a flow of tears and sobs as the trauma he'd kept at bay by the strength of his terror won out.

"We'll camp for now." Jorni said in a grave and serious tone, "We'll resume getting back tomorrow, and we're going to go at a double time, the commander needs to know what happened."

There were no objections made as he gestured to the woods for them to set up a safe encampment again. "You're coming with us...sorry what is your name?"

"Mikan." The wounded man said softly.

"You're coming with us Mikan." Jorni said authoritatively.

Mikan nodded, "Anything, just not another day alone..." He said in a voice that would never not be haunted again.

 **AN: Well there we have another chapter done, hope you enjoyed it. Side note...the first song sung here is a New World variation on a song called 'No Man's Land' but is more commonly known as 'The Green Fields of France' its a beautiful song about the futility and tragedy of war and I cannot recommend it highly enough, give it a listen. Perhaps given my many years of military time it is ironic that I love it so, but the truth is...nobody knows better than soldiers how stupid, tragic, and wasteful war really is. The second one is a few lyrics from 'The Minstrel Boy' a song I sang myself in a half decent baritone from Baghdad to Kabul, it was the song I sang the night I thought I was going to die on guard duty during the first year of the Iraq war, also a song well worth giving a listen if you're so inclined. Perhaps it is a little self indulgence on my part to slip a few songs in there that hold a powerful meaning to me, but it is part of bringing these characters to life, the sharp contrast between futility and a choice to engage in it anyway, the hypocrisy and hope, and the difficulty in telling whether or not you're really on the right side or doing the right thing. Yes, many of the characters on the 'wrong side' opposing Ainz are indeed very bad people, but even the bad may love their own, even the wrong may have virtues, and even those who do terrible things, may think that they're creating a better world. Its easy to sneer at those who oppose Ainz, but we shouldn't forget that he's no pure hero either, he set Demiurge on them, heedless or indifferent to the suffering that would cause, simply so he could play the hero to vanquish the villain. He may not be the epitome of evil, but in most other contexts, Ainz would be the villain of a story and not the antihero. I think he has unsung virtues that are best epitomized in the 'Masks' story, but it can't be underestimated that there are few lengths he won't go to for his goals, even if he doesn't go out of his way to create suffering, he doesn't shy from it either. So showing the other side as something sympathetic is part of what shapes these unfolding events. Sorry for the long AN rant. Thanks for reading!**

 **OH! And also...leave reviews if you like or don't like, suggestions are welcome, whatever you think is worth saying, say on. :)**


	9. The Spark

When they returned to Remedios the camp was already in a buzz of activity, Mikan was brought to Remedios immediately and she wasted no time in starting to question him about what happened, the information that was returned ASIDE from Mikan himself, the entire point of their journey, was handed off to an attendant as if it were nothing, which next to Mikan's report, it might as well not have been more than nothing.

"Are you the only survivor?" Remedios asked.

Mikan shuddered, "I don't think so, I mean they hunted us pretty hard, but eventually they had to have turned back to their homes...there was no further point in chasing us, we were done there." He said, his voice carrying a note of horror laden finality. "I'm sure there are more out there." He said breathlessly as someone brought him a cup of something to drink, he lifted it to his lips with both hands and drank greedily, almost choking on it, coughing for a moment or two before regaining his composure as he resumed explaining all that transpired, he seemed oblivious to Remedios's twisted expression, the need to get the horror out of his mind and into the air was simply overwhelming, it rendered him blind to what was in front of him.

"...So in the end, we failed, but...we tried...we really tried, we bled on their wall, we killed their leader on his own wall, but they got reinforcements, they had help, something happened that turned the sky black and it..." Mikan shook his head. "We did kill a lot of them though, I don't know how many, but they paid a steep price to keep their city, if we'd had twice as many soldiers, we would have won, we could have surrounded them, we could have fended off their reinforcements, and even Blue Rose could not have fought a whole army!" He spat the words...and a healthy amount of spit with them, out in bitterness.

Remedios might have been more dense than an iron lump, but Yuri wasn't, and even if she didn't feel things the same way as others, that didn't mean she couldn't understand it from a pragmatic perspective. "You want to avenge your fellows?" Yuri asked, hoping to prompt him in the right direction.

He looked up from the spit stain in the dirt, meeting Yuri's eyes.

Even the dense Remedios couldn't miss where she was going with that. "You'll get your chance, very soon." She looked to Yuri, and on her face was a blissful expression, "This...this was one of the things I was waiting for, get everybody ready, we're going to move."

Yuri was stunned, "What? Move? Where?"

Remedios grabbed Yuri's arm with the strength of an adamantite warrior and yanked her away, quickly snapping out instruction that Mikan be given a cart to rest on while the camp was broken, and leaving the rest of the group stunned behind her as she rushed into her private tent.

"Queen Calca told me, she gave me signs to look for, she was guiding me to this, I didn't realize it right away, but then it hit me, this is our chance to start to really make things right. Its the first great blow against our many enemies and the restoration of the Holy Roble Kingdom." Remedios said, her eyes filled with fanatical glee.

"So...where are we going?" Yuri asked with some trepidation.

"Wenmark. We're going to Wenmark." Remedios said, "Someone is there who I very much want to see again."

"And the...hunting for heretics, the burnings to help you sleep?" Yuri asked, profoundly uncomfortable with the mad ramblings about Calca and quietly wondering if she should get the fuck out of this fight before things got out of her control.

Remedios paused, "We have the schedules, I suppose we might as well use them, send out small parties, no more than a dozen or so each, it'll be good for morale and we need scouts out there anyway."

"As you wish Commander. But who is it that we're going to run into at Wenmark?" She asked as she thought through what she knew of the place, seemed like a solid old religion stronghold from what she knew, perhaps there were military forces to link up with? Perhaps there was equipment to gather, or political allies to meet with for further support? The questions ran through her head only to cut short when Remedios replied.

"We're going to find Neia Baraja, and I'm going to kill her and her vile cult elites in one blow." Remedios said with a face so twisted that Yuri resolved she'd do anything to never see that expression again as long as she lived. She swallowed hard.

"I..." Yuri began and Remedios cut her off by grabbing both of Yuri's shoulders and squeezing hard enough to dent the metal inwards, "I said...get...them all...moving." Her eyes bored into Yuri's like a spoon through milk, and the woman nodded numbly and rushed out.

Yuri was efficient in the best of times and in the worst of times she was at the very least 'collected' but this was the first time in all her life she'd ever been driven, she worked with a mad fury as she rushed from place to place, calling on commanders and ordering the immediate preparation for a military march out of their hideaway, while all the soldiers were not ready, many were, and the rest would be training by doing in life or death combat. There was no chance Yuri was going to argue the matter now, and with her inhuman energy and drive to get the camp moving, it soon was. She calculated the duration of the march, and it fortunately wasn't all that far...far enough, but if nobody was looking for them, and nobody should be yet, then they had a good chance of arriving safely. Small teams were sent out as scouts far beyond the military perimeter, and even though an army could only move at the pace of its slowest soldier, an advance party, a flying column of cavalry could move far in advance of the main host to seize objectives and take the initiative in a fight. Even the dense as lead Remedios knew enough about strategy to know that in spite of the risks posed to a smaller element, the value of surprise often more than made up for it, and while she tasked Yuri with leading the main host...thus taking up the boring minutia work, Remedios took command of a flying column of hundreds of horsemen and moved on a straight course to the city.

When they arrived two days later, it was nightful, but the noise gave it the sound of a bustling daytime activity, fighting, it was battle, violent and desperate, this was what Remedios had been expecting, this was what she knew she'd find, what her queen had told her in the quiet dreams of the previous evening, this was her chance to finally start to make it all right again. She called the charge and her cavalry rushed forward, the fire that was ever present in war illuminated many faces, and these were the faces of elves, elves on foot, fleeing the city. "Kill them all! Kill the elves and save the city! For the Queen! For Calca! For the Gods!" Remedios screamed her bloodlust and severed the head of an elf as they crashed into the ranks, fighting was still fierce within the city, but those coming over the wall fleeing it found themselves facing her unexpectedly, and it spelled disaster, there were clearly multiple escape points, but on horseback, it was more like sport than fighting...it was the beginning of a massacre.

 _In Nazarick..._

Demiurge watched it unfold with detatched interest, like one would listen to background music while working, Shalltear was more attentive quite frankly, and she interrupted his own thoughts with her questions, "Why did you do that?" Shalltear asked. "I mean won't they find it hard to have faith in the supreme one if they're massacred?" She asked.

Demiurge pondered how best to answer the slow witted vampire, "The dead won't care, but the living will be grateful to be saved, and frankly their numbers had to be culled, we can't take on that many refugees all at once, and if we fall short in anything after saving them, we won't look as overwhelming as we should, so I thought it best to have some of their numbers culled first."

"I see..." Shalltear screwed up her face in thought, "But...won't Lord Ainz be displeased if Neia is killed?" She asked.

"We have the power to resurrect her, and we can save her if we must, plus if she is without any setbacks ever, her reputation will overshadow that of the limitless lord she is meant to serve, she must know her own limits before she becomes conceited over it, let her be reminded of our lord's grace at her most desperate and vulnerable hour, it is in that moment when all hope seems lost, that it is easiest to control the one trapped in the world's chains." Demiurge replied. "I'm sure there are more levels to this that I have not detected yet, our lord is truly unfathomable." Demiurge added somewhat sadly.

"This was his plan?" Shalltear asked.

"What I have been able to cobble together with my feeble mind from my lord's casual words, oh how I wish he would simply speak his plans to me in full instead of leaving me to riddle them out, surely nobody can know the frustration of never knowing just what others want, expect, or think, how much fear we feel in the possibility of failing our lord, if only I could tell him, but how can a god understand such fears as ours?" Demiurge shook his head, and Shalltear mimicked the gesture as she remembered her own failure and betrayal.

"So this is what I cobbled together, I'm sure my lord will correct any failings I may have overlooked along the way..." Demiurge began, only to be interrupted.

"In what way do you fear failing me Demiurge?" Ainz asked as he approached the demon, who swiftly turned and knelt, revealing the mirror of remote viewing behind him.

"It is of no consequence my lord, I was merely carrying out the plan you gave to me." Demiurge said with a hint of apprehension in his voice.

'What plan?!' Ainz thought desperately, just as a message came in.

"My lord, your servant begs your aid in her hour of need!" Neia's voice shouted over the sound of clashing weapons, and the desperate screams of women.

 **AN: This ends the Queen in the Sword, short chapter I know, but from here on out the story picks up with 'God Rising' which will cover the last two days in Wenmark, and flow in to this event, and move forward from there to the end of the war. Speaking frankly, while I enjoy writing all my stories, this was honestly my least favorite among them, I liked some aspects of it, and I'm still glad I told it, it gives more detail to motives and character development leading up to the war, explaining why those who are participating in the war, sometimes seem different from how they were in the LN. I WAS going to do an epilogue for this story, but I chose to scrap it since that would include more spoilers than I like to give away, and besides the next chapter of God Rising will be out very soon anyway, so you'll just have to wait. Till then, reviews are welcome! :)**


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